Olivia receives her check-up & shares the experience with her babyA couple of weeks ago, the girls had dentist appointments. I have yet to have had a full-blown cavity and, therefore, have always enjoyed the dentist. I hope my girls will grow to enjoy their visits as much as I did (do). When a friend told me about The Smile Center here in Leavenworth, I had to get us all appointments. While the kids wait in the lobby, they can read books, play video games and watch TV. During their cleaning and check-ups, they can view the TV from the ceiling and listen by use of headphones. Though, my girls were more impressed with all the instruments than the TV.
Olivia took this picture of Lila getting her teeth checked The dentist was very pleased with the health of the girls' teeth. No cavities! For the most part, we follow all the rules the dentist went over with the girls and I. No drinking juice (Our dentist recommends that children get all their fruit intake through eating fruit, rarely, if ever, drinking juice-which is what we follow. The girls drink juice only on special occasions or at restaurants as a treat), limit sugary sweets, nothing other than water at bedtime, etc.
As children/teenagers, DH and I had overbite problems and, eventually, needed quite a bit of orthodontic care to correct our problems (spending three years of high school in braces was a real pain in the butt, to say the least! Oh, and expensive - I'm sure my parents would have liked to have put that few thousand dollars elsewhere). Therefore, I've been concerned that our children will also need extensive orthodontic care. One of the many reasons I chose extended breastfeeding (into toddlerhood), was to help with the development of their jaws and teeth. ProMom, Inc. sites this by stating:
"Breastfeeding...Facilitates proper dental and jaw development. Nursing is good for a baby's tooth and jaw development. Babies drinking from the human breast have to use as much as 60 times more energy to get food than do those drinking from a bottle. Obviously, a nursing baby's jaws are receiving much more exercise as she pulls her mother's milk into her mouth. Apparently, this constant gentle pulling assists the growth of well-formed jaws and straight, healthy teeth. Among breastfed infants, the longer the duration of nursing, the less chance of dental malocclusion. The Complete Book Of Breastfeeding M.S. Eiger. MD, S. Wendkos Olds, Copyright 1972, 1987 Comstock, Inc., Workman Publishing Co., Inc., 708 Broadway, New York, NY 10003Labbok, M.H. "Does Breastfeeding Protect against Malocclusion? An Analysis of the 1981 Child Health Supplement to the National Health Interview Survey" American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 1987 "
BBC News also had a good article here on the subject a few years ago. At any rate, so far, our dentist says it looks like our girls have great teeth and jaw development. Though, we'll have to wait until their much older to be sure! Here's hoping!
I was impressed with the girls behavior and interest in what the dentist and hygienist were doing throughout their visit! Hopefully, every visit will go just as well!
6 comments:
I wish I knew what had happened with Ashlyn's teeth. We limit juice and sugar, too. I am still sick about her previous cavity and am terrified that she will have another soon.
Oh, we need to find a dentist here. I don't know where we are going, but we will definitely skip the dentist down the road where all exam chairs are in front of large windows, visible to the street.
Great to hear that everything went well. I'm hoping that Tate will be able to avoid the drill as well. According to my dentist, they start taking children at 2.5 years -- they try to do a few things with the child (ie checking teeth, etc), but will stop when they become uncomfortable. They just want them to get used to the dentist and they don't want them to be scared of the dentist.
I forgot to tell you about the parafin treatment....just one more reason I LOVED that place..!!
Thanks, Joy, for recommending the place!
Paraffin? :( I think I rather have a cavity lol. Yall are lucky though not having cavities! No matter what I do, I end up with them. That and canker sores, apparently my mouth is very acidic!
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