Oil-Pulling

I love learning new things from my patients! Today I learned about oil-pulling! This is a way to supposedly pull toxins out your lymph and body while also disrupting the dental bacteria and plaque leaving your teeth slick and smooth and plaque free. There have been lots of commercial rinses researched and tested that look at using essential oils to help combat plaque, so that idea is not that unusual. But the idea of swishing with sesame or sunflower oil for 20 minutes a few times a day to cure all kinds of ailments seems a bit strange.

The mom that introduced me to this has REALLY REALLY clean teeth (I had to have her get in the chair and look myself). I want to follow up with her in six months and test her bacteria to see if it actually changes the bacteria environment or just keeps them from sticking to the teeth in great numbers (reduces plaque).

As I researched this technique on the internet, there are actaully clinical studies (mostly from India) that show gingivitis significantly improves and overall bacteria load is reduced by oil-pulling.

We are always on the look out for new, innovative, and interesting ways to help patients out. It is even better when they are simple and inexpensive.
So you wont hear about this from your physician or pharmaceutical company, but you may just want to google it and give it a try. Or start at www.oilpulling.org and www.oilpulling.com. I'm going to be recommending it to select patients and get some feedback as well as try it myself (maybe even talk my wife into another one of my experiments!). There is no harm to the technique, and it is all hype and cures no illness, at least it will leave your teeth shiny clean and you body will absorb a lot of good omega 3 and 6 fatty acids (the good, healthy kind).

Give Kids A Smile 2010

Love One Another
"...Love your Neighbor as you love yourself." Matthew 22:39


Each year, our office takes the time to give back to the community and help others in need. During the month of February, we participate in a campaign called "Give Kids A Smile". We provide free dental services to families who can't afford to bring their children to the dentist. We provide cleanings, extract teeth that are causing pain, protect adult molars with sealants, and fill small cavities for children between the ages of five and thirteen.

This year, the event will be held on Friday, February 19th from 8-3. To help us make this event a success, we are asking that people in the community nominate families who need to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. Nominated families who wish to participate in GKAS can contact me at (904)505-2010 to schedule a financial and dental screening prior to February 15th. We will assess the dental needs of the child and schedule them an appointed time to return on February 19th. The screening process will help to ensure that all children will get the most comprehensive care possible.

Please help us give kids a reason to smile!

Breathing, sleep disturbance, and ADHD

Wow, I've spent another weekend inside a hotel at a study club filled with brilliant people. I leave more convinced than ever that I can help many children with ADHD and ADD just by getting them to breathe better. When the airway is insufficient due to insufficient jaw growth or enlarged adenoids tonsils, the posterior pharynx collapses down during sleep just like a sleep apnea patient. During the day, the mouth breathing and shallow overbreathing robs the body of the ability to efficiently transfer oxygen from blood to tissue..things like brain tissue. We blogged earlier about how breathing correctly can also reduce asthma and allergy symptoms. It really all comes down to breathing training. So look for coming programs at our office to help straighten your child's teeth while also improving their overall health and performance in school. Imagine a life without ADHD medication or labels placed on your child. Imagine a child that is able to focus their thoughts and energies. Now I realize that there are many different reasons for ADHD and ADD diagnosis, but what if many of those brain imbalances are due to a lack of oxygen thats allows focus and proper function? It all starts with breathing, so someone needs to develop a good system to evaluate and improve breathing for children. It might as well be me.

IV sedation versus oral sedation

Intravenous Sedation (IV) sedation in a dental office has an anesthesiologist come in and put an IV into the blood stream for sedating a young child so the dentistry can be accomplished. It is very effective and has the advantage of wearing off quickly once the IV is out and the child is taken to a much deeper state of unconsciousness safely. It is also a lot more costly as you are paying for 2 doctors in the room.

Oral sedation does not put the child in such a deep state of sedation, so the extra doctor to administer and monitor the drugs is unnecessary. It effectively sedates the uncooperative child, allowing work to be accomplished without undue stress or negative memories. Since the drug is not delivered directly into the blood stream, it takes longer to wear off completely, leaving a sometimes irritable, slightly off balance child the rest of the afternoon, but it can save as much as 2000 dollars over IV sedation, accomplishing the same objectives.

Many pediatric dentists these days only offer IV sedation, which in these economic times can put a difficult burden on families. This is one of the reasons we choose to offer oral sedation as an alternative to IV sedation.

The following is what one parent who was quoted for IV sedation at a different office had to say about her experience:

"My son had his first experience with cavities, and needed to have multiple teeth filled. Dr. Gary and his staff presented us with two options for anesthesia, and we are thankful we went with the oral sedation instead of I.V. sedation, as this was not the most economical option for us, but the entire process was painless, which as parents, was our main concern. Thank you for providing options for parents, and for cultivating a peaceful, kid-friendly environment where my children can learn how to keep their teeth and mouth healthy. You all are a blessing."
-Susan J.

The ABC's of breathing is the start to good health

I am amazed at the number of asthma patients I see in my practice these days. If they are not on asthma medicine, they seem to be on ADHD medicine, and often on both. If you are like me, especially if you have an asthmatic or ADHD child, you have to be frustrated with our medical system whose solution is simply more drugs.

I want to propose a new idea that may not help everyone with asthma or ADHD, but what if it was the solution or part of the solution to 10% of the cases? 20%? 50%? From the individual and family in that 10 percent this would be life changing. And from a society-wide standpoint, especially in the middle of this health care discussion, it could lower the cost of health care in ways we may not even realize.

What if we made breathing training our first line of training, and those it didn't help could then be placed onto medication. Just this one simple step could save billions (or conversely, cost drug companies billions in sales). I don't think this is a conspiracy or anything...it is more a bureaucracy and momentum thing. So let's think about doing something for ourselves by learning to breathe correctly and then go see the doctor if there is still a problem. If you or your child is already under the care of a doctor, pay close attention, becuase as you teach your child to properly breathe, your medications may need to be adjusted down or eliminated all together. DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION YET?

I want to hear from you. Post on FB, or in the comment section of this blog. I'll put more of my thoughts and solutions out there after I hear from you all in cyberspace.

Give Thanks and Give Back!

Our Pediatric Dental office will be holding a thanksgiving food drive and needs your help to make it a success!

For every can donated, you will be able to enter your name (or your child's name) to win a gift basket valued at over $150. (including a bleaching kit and power toothbrush). You get an entry for each can you bring, so the more cans you bring the greater the chance you have to win. Clear out that pantry, we even want your canned YAMS, and swing by 3200 Old Jennings Road by the Clay Utility Authority to have a chance at super white teeth while giving others a chance for a great thanksgiving!

New twist on cavities

Wow.

I sort of forgot about this blogging thing, so it has been a while...hopefully the archives are good enough to keep the new folks entertained and educated.

One of the neatest things I've been working on lately (besides raising my new 6 month old daughter!), is the continued quest to learn more about how oral bacteria work to establish themselves in the mouth. We were all taught in dental school that certain bacteria are the problem and if you get too many of them and feed them too often you will have cavities. And once you get them, you really can't get rid of them. So I was looking for ways to tackle this certain bacteria. Sometimes it worked, other times, not as well. Turns out that more recent information has the cavity problem rooted in an unruly ecosystem.

A good analogy is one of a classroom. It is not the child in the classroom causing the upset(although some are more likely than others to cause mischief), but rather, it is the environment in which the class is run. If there is no teacher, or a weak teacher, it gets out of hand quickly. So even if you get rid of all the bacteria that have been thought to cause the problems, but the system is still unruly, the "good" bacteria turn bad and can still cause cavities! It turns out the key to behaving bacteria in the mouth is the Oral pH. If you push the ecosystem with a high pH solution frequently enough, you get control and help you teeth get back in balance. If you cycle it often enough with acid drinks (yes, even diet soda) or sugar that lets the existing bacteria continue to make the acid environment they love, you stay out of balance (and keep getting cavities over and over). Unfortunately, most all the drinks we love, and most of the oral dental rinses have a low pH.

Armed with this new knowledge, we can help you avoid getting the unruly bacteria from the start with our infant dental consult by age 1, and then keep order in the "classroom" by helping the mouth keep a balanced pH environment. Pretty cool (but you still have to do your homework of eating right and brushing and flossing...only you will be like one of the smart kids where it is easier to bring home A's).