The experience of breastfeeding is very special for many new moms as they consider that time a valuable bonding experience between the mother and newborn child.  Moms who are able to breastfeed also benefit for other reasons: they gain overall health benefits, oral health benefits, and cost-savings benefits.  This blog will help explain the many benefits, for both mom and child, of breastfeeding.

It is important to remember that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) states that “exclusive breastfeeding, defined as giving an infant only breast milk – no water, no formula, or no other liquids or solid foods – is the norm against which all alternative feeding methods should be compared.”  The 2012 AAP policy statement on breastfeeding and the use of human milk documents the many important reductions in health risks for infants and children, mothers, families and society that are attributable to breast-feeding.  These advantages include developmental, economic, health, nutritional, immunological, psychological, social and environmental benefits.¹

Why Breastfeeding is Important for Overall Health

The policy statement of the AAP Section on Breast-feeding states that breast milk is the only source of nutrition a healthy infant requires for about the first six months of life.¹  Breastmilk provides specific nutritional components for the child – providing immunological, anti-inflammatory, digestive and immune system benefits during the most vulnerable time in their lives.

There are many reduced health risks for breastfed children including:

1. Acute Otitis Media (Middle Ear Infections)
2. Gastroenteritis and Diarrhea
3. Lower Respiratory Tract Infections – ie. Pneumonia, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
4. Necrotizing Enterocolitis
5. Leukemia
6. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
7. Asthma
8. Obesity
9. Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Not only does breastfeeding benefit the child, but there are also scientifically proven reduced health risks for mothers who breastfeed including:

• Postpartum bleeding and hemorrhage – helps mothers recover from childbirth
• Breast Cancer
• Ovarian Cancer

Oral Health Considerations of Breastfeeding

There are many things to consider when breastfeeding your infant to help your child maintain positive jaw growth patterns, maintain good oral hygiene, and maintain a cavity-free environment from the very start.  Yes, even babies who breastfeed can get cavities!

Jaw Growth Patterns of Breastfed Children

The sucking mechanism used during bottle feeding differs from that used during breastfeeding.^2-4  The different sucking mechanisms have the potential to predispose a bottle-fed infant to the development of poor jaw growth patterns.  What’s the significance of your child’s jaw growth pattern?  If your child’s jaw and teeth do not fit together well, your child may need orthodontic treatment in the future or if the jaw growth pattern is significantly deviated from the norm, you may be looking at jaw surgery to correct how teeth fit together (and ultimately your child’s smile!).

Breastfeeding and Early Childhood Cavities

Scientific studies have not found significant evidence that confirms an association between breastfeeding and early childhood cavities.⁵

How Do I Clean my Infant’s Teeth/Gums?

Prior to the eruption of teeth, it’s easiest to gently wipe your infant’s gums with a wet washcloth or soft towel after breastfeeding (day or night).  Once your child’s teeth begin to erupt, it becomes easier for the parent to either use a finger brush or baby tooth brush with soft bristles.  You can either use water on the brush, or safe-to-swallow (fluoride-free) toothpaste to clean these newly erupted baby teeth.  If your child begins to bite your finger with the finger brush, save your fingers and switch to the hand-held baby toothbrush!

Most importantly, as your child approaches their first birthday, make sure to find a pediatric dentist in your area and schedule your child’s first dental exam.  During this first visit, you can expect a very quick exam, and a lot of talking between you and your dentist regarding things to expect as your child grows, and ways to maintain optimum oral health.   This is also a good time for you to ask your dentist any questions you may have regarding your child’s teeth, gums, and hygiene practices.

For all those breastfeeding mothers out there, great choice!   You can chosen the best source nutrition for your child while providing both you and your child with many health benefits.  As dentists, we hope you also understand the importance of starting early with good oral hygiene habits.  Always remember to baby those baby teeth!

References

1. Eidelman AI, Schanler RJ; American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Breastfeeding.  Breastfeeding and the use of human milk.  Pediatrics 2012; 129(3):e827-e841.
2. Viggiano D, Fasano D, Moncaco G, Strohmenger L. Breastfeeding, bottle feeding, and non-nutritive sucking; effects on occlusion in deciduous dentition. Arch Dis Child 2004;89(12):1121-1123.
3. Inoue N. Sakashita R, and Kamegai T. Reduction of masseter muscle activity in bottle-fed babies.  Early Hum Dev 1995;42(3):185-193.
4. Gomes CF, Trezza EM, Murade EC, Padovani CR.  Surface electromyography of facial muscles during natural and artificial feeding of infants. J Pediatr (Rio J) 2006;82(2):103-109.
5. Salone LR, Vann WF, Dee DL.  Breastfeeding, An overview of oral and general health benefits. JADA 2013;144(2):143-151.

(Creative Commons photo credit: BigPinkCookie on Flickr)

DID YOU KNOW that dental disease (cavities and gum disease) is the most common
childhood disease – FIVE times more common than asthma?

If that’s not surprising enough, here are some more startling statistics:

• 47.4% of 3rd graders in Virginia have or had a (untreated or treated) cavity experience.
• Students miss as many as 51 million hours of school each year because of dental problems.
• Adults miss 164 million hours of work each year because of dental problems.

Excellent oral health is considered a very important aspect of maintaining good overall
health. Dental disease (cavities and gum disease), is the most common chronic disease of
Virginia’s children, despite it being entirely preventable.

Are you wondering how to prevent cavities and gum problems for your child?

Read these tips for healthier teeth!

We are very excited to announce our second annual Halloween Candy Buy Back to benefit our overseas military troops!

Last year we collected close to 500 pounds of candy from the children in our community! We enjoyed watching the children weigh each pound of candy and see their smiling faces when they received cash and prizes in return!

How does the Halloween Candy Buy Back work?

Children may bring in their Halloween candy to our office and we will buy it back with CASH and goodies from local partners. We’re also going to raffle off a grand prize for one lucky winner!

All candy collected will then be shipped to our troops overseas.

We have two goals:

1. Provide healthier options for kids this Halloween.
2. Provide much-needed support and care packages for our military troops overseas.

How to Participate

1. Go trick-or-treating! Have fun and be safe!
2. Bring your extra candy to our office between Thursday, November 1 – Wednesday, November 7^th.
3. We’ll exchange each pound of candy for cash and prizes.
4. We’ll make sure that the candy is shipped overseas to our troops.

Thank you!

Our candy buy back was a wonderful success last year! We collected A LOT of candy – hopefully helping our kids stay healthier, and used it to show our love and support to our hard-working military troops. Let’s see if our local children can beat their record this year!

Rules

1. Your child must be 12 years old or under and present to receive any cash prizes and goodies.
2. For each pound of candy your child(ren) brings, they will receive $1; up to $5 max per family.
3. Your child(ren) do not have to be patients at our practice to participate.
4. We ask that if any large groups of children would like to participate (girl scouts, etc), that you call to schedule a time to deliver your candy.
5. ANYONE may drop off their extra candy to our office to donate to the troops.

Summer is over and the kids are back in school. Hopefully they are happy to reunite with old friends, meet new teachers, and ready to work hard for yet another school year! With the school year come a lot of “extra” duties for parents – being the taxi driver to sports practice, helping with homework assignments, preparing lunch bags, the list goes on and on! As parents, we do everything in our ability to help our kids succeed in school.

What some parents don’t realize, it that maintaining a healthy mouth will help your child in school – not just with attendance, but it will help them concentrate and perform better in school. 

Lower Grades

We have known for decades that poor oral health leads to many lost school days every year for children and more missed work days for parents. A recent study from the University of Southern California (scheduled to be published in the American Journal of Public Health) has shown that children who reported having recent tooth pain were 4 times more likely to have a low grade point average (below the median of 2.8) when compared to children without oral pain.

More Missed School Days

On average, elementary children miss 2.1 days of school due to dental problems, and high school students miss 2.3 days due to dental issues. These results show that oral health problems are a significant factor in school absences for children, work absences for parents in order to care for their children with dental problems.

What Can You Do?

Here are 3 easy steps to help you avoid these missed school and work days:

1. Make sure that you and your children have regular dental check-ups every 6 months (or even more frequently if requested by your dentist). If your dentist recommends dental treatment, try to complete this in a timely manner as to avoid sensitivity, pain, or infection.
2. Help your child brush and floss! Many children are unable to brush properly on their own until they are 7-9 years old. It may appear that they are brushing properly, but with your help (and expertise!), their teeth will be brushed more effectively! Parents will definitely need to assist with flossing since it is a very difficult task for children to accomplish on their own.
3. Watch your child’s diet. Make sure your child is eating healthy meals and snacks during the school year. And especially pay attention to what drinks are good and bad for their oral health.

For good snack ideas, look here:

http://www.pediatricdentistrichmond.com/2011/10/healthy-snacks-for-kids/

For more on which drinks are good/bad for your child’s teeth, look here:

http://www.pediatricdentistrichmond.com/2011/07/which-drinks-are-worst-for-teeth/

(Creative Commons Photo Credit: tncountryfan on Flickr)

The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) has recently put together a wonderful resource for parents who may have serious questions about their child’s teeth/dentist. We highly recommend you visit this website – as it is a great tool for parents who may be getting ready to make their first dental check-up for their child or a parent who wants to prevent cavities in their child’s teeth.

We like this website because the information is clear, concise, and backed by many scientific studies. Happy reading!

Thanks to the Oregon Dental Association for producing this fun Public Service Announcement!

Now that we have covered why children become attached to the pacifier and how the pacifier can affect your child long-term, let’s discuss fun and useful ways to help your child cut the “binky” habit.

Breaking your child’s pacifier habit will not be an easy task. Our recommendation to parents is the earlier you start talking to your child about quitting their habit, the easier it will be for YOU and for the child.

Step 1: So You Want To Be A Big Kid?

Around 2 years old, begin to talk to your child about how you think it’s a good idea since they are a “big boy” or “big girl” to stop using their pacifier. After all, pacifiers are for babies, right!? This is very easy for them to understand and is a concept you can repeat every time they use the pacifier.

Step 2: Bribes or High-Fives?

As we all know, children have very different personalities and likes/dislikes. Some kids respond well to incentives, while others might do better with positive reinforcement from their parents when they are not using their pacifiers. Some children require all of the above.

Below is a list of recommendations from local Richmond Parents on how they got their child to stop using the pacifier. We gathered most of these on our Facebook page and a recent discussion on RichmondMom.com‘s Facebook group.

1. Take a trip to Build-a-Bear and place all of your pacifiers inside the bear. Then your child is still “sleeping” with their pacifiers, but not in their mouth!
2. “Mail” your pacifiers to someone of your child’s choosing:  a grandparent, a friend who has a baby, etc.
3. Place all your pacifiers in a bag and take them back to your dentist’s office! I bet your dentist will give you a special prize in return.
4. Play “Paci-fairy” one night and place all your child’s pacifiers under their pillow at night so the paci-fairy can take them away and leave something behind as a surprise!
5. Use a reward calendar and accumulate stickers for all the days your child doesn’t use the pacifier. Once the child has a certain number of stickers, they can pick out a new toy.

Your Turn!

We hope this information will help guide parents in the right direction when faced with a child who is attached to their pacifier. If you have a child and have conquered the binkie habit, share your ideas! As sleep-deprived parents, we could all use a little help in the creativity department. For all those parents of binkie lovers, we wish you luck and good riddance to the pacifier.

(CC Photo Credit: krski19 on Flickr)

Note: This is Part 2 in a 3-part series on pacifiers, an ongoing series to answer parents’ questions about pacifiers. Part 1 explored why and how kids fall in love with their passies. 

Now that we understand why children become attached to the pacifier, let’s try to understand how the pacifier can affect your child long-term.

Since we are a pediatric dentist office, of course we are concerned with how the pacifier affects your child’s teeth long-term. Parents need to be aware of the negative effects of pacifier sucking on a child’s oral health.

Age Concerns

Ensuring Proper Development

Prolonged pacifier use (and other oral habits such as thumb sucking) can cause problems with proper growth of the mouth, alignment of teeth, and changes in the shape of the roof of the mouth.

How exactly do the teeth shift with the pacifier? As you can see in the image above, the upper teeth tend to move up and out while the lower teeth move down (into the jaw) and out creating an “open bite” or a space between the upper and lower teeth. If the child continues to use the pacifier past age two, the chances of permanent changes to the child’s jaw and teeth increase. These changes to the teeth and jaw can be corrected with orthodontics (braces), when the child is older, but is a very difficult problem to correct.

Associations With Other Conditions

There has also been shown to be an association between pacifier use and middle ear infections (otitis media) – especially in children who are in daycare centers. Continuous sucking on a pacifier can cause the auditory tubes to become abnormally open, which allows secretions from the throat to seep into the middle ear leading to middle ear infections. So, if your child is continuously battling middle ear infections and using a pacifier, you may want to consider removing the pacifier to prevent the need for antibiotics and surgery.

Next Up: How To Break The Habit!

So now that we know the affects the pacifier can have on your child, how do you go about breaking the habit? Stay tuned for successful habit-breaking ideas from our very own Richmond parents!

Thank you to Mark Tenia of WRIC TV 8 (ABC) for helping us educate the Richmond community about the pros and cons of bottled water.

Pros: Convenience

Cons: Most bottled waters lack fluoride and therefore don’t contribute necessary minerals that strengthen your child’s teeth

Watch Dr. Liz explain the reasons behind our philosophy.

As with most things, we recommend moderation. SOME bottled water is okay, but make sure your children get mostly tap water to keep their teeth healthy and strong!

For more information about choosing the best drinks for your children, here’s a helpful blog post about the best (and worst) options. We also recommend that you read about Richmond’s water supply, and how it contains the optimal levels of fluoride for healthy teeth.

It’s a story many parents tell to their children’s dentist. My child won’t stop using the pacifier, what do I do? The story is usually followed by many questions. What effect does the pacifier have on my child’s teeth? When does my child definitely have to stop using the pacifier? Will my child need braces because they used the pacifier? The hardest question of all, (but to me the most fun and interesting) is how do I get my child to stop using the pacifier?

It seems silly to have to write a blog series on a piece of plastic that children put in their mouths for comfort, but it’s a real issue that many parents face.

As a pediatric dentist, I get these questions every single day – so many questions – that I will need to make The Legend of the Pacifier a 3-part series. Part one will discuss how children become attached to the pacifier, part two will discuss how the pacifier affects your child’s teeth, and part three (my personal favorite) will give parents suggestions on how help your child stop using the pacifier.

Part I: How the Pacifier love begins

When babies are first born, they thrive on the act of “suckling;” whether it’s with the mom breastfeeding, on a bottle, on a finger (parent or their own), or a pacifier. For many parents, the pacifier becomes an instrument to help calm the child when they are crying, hold them over until it is time for them to eat, or to help the child fall asleep.

Is the pacifier bad to use on an infant?

No. It is not the end of the world if you find that your infant likes to use the pacifier. In fact, many children find comfort in having the pacifier in their mouths. And as all parents know, a calm child equals a calm parent!

What do I need to know about the pacifier?

It may be calming for your child to have the pacifier now, but understand it may cause problems with the placement of your child’s teeth down the road. In Part Two of this series, I will discuss what affect the pacifier can have on your child’s teeth once they start appearing in the mouth.

What to do next?

Parents should also understand that at some point in time, they will have to help their child get rid of this wonderful piece of plastic. Herein lies the problem for many parents. In Part Three of this series, I will discuss creative ways to help your child get rid of the pacifier.

Please note: I do not guarantee any of these ideas, I have just found many of my patients have responded positively to them. In fact, many of these ideas came from the parents of my patients – so thank you for sharing your own successful ideas with our readers!

(CC Photo Credit)