Mother's DAY? No way!

We'll be celebrating mothers ALL WEEK on Facebook
and one lucky winner will get a Kindle Fire HD 8 just for playing along.

Look for a new way to enter to win each day

May 5th through May 11th.

Contest Rules:

By entering this promotion, participant agrees to a complete release of Facebook from any or all liability in connection with this contest. It is also acknowledgment that the contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. No purchase is necessary to enter or win.

How to enter: Entries consist of following the directions (comment, "like," etc.) given in the official promotion posts on the KiDDS Dental Facebook page between May 5, 2019 at 9:00 AM and May 11, 2019 at 5:00 PM. One entry per promotion post per Facebook user is allowed. Multiple entries per promotion post will be disqualified.

Drawing: One random prize drawing will be held on or about May 13, 2019.  The winner will receive a Kindle Fire HD 8. This prize is valued at $89. Cash cannot be awarded in lieu of prize. Prize is not transferable. The winner is solely responsible for reporting and paying applicable state and federal taxes. If a winner is disqualified or if a prize is unclaimed, KiDDS Dental reserves the right to conduct another drawing to determine an alternate winner or to not award that winner's prize, at its sole discretion.

Odds: Actual odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries.

Eligibility: Legal residents of the United States are eligible to participate and win. Any person under the age of 18 must have a parent's or legal guardian's permission to participate and/or win.  Must be 13 years or older to enter. Employees of KiDDS Dental and their immediate families (spouse, parents, siblings, children, in-laws) are not eligible to enter. Winner must be available to pick up prize at KiDDS Dental in Liberty Lake, WA by May 17, 2019.

Decisions: By entering into the promotion, entrants and their parents or guardians (if the entrant is under the age of 18) agree to abide by and be bound by these official rules, and to accept the decision of KiDDS Dental as final.  Entrants and their parents or guardians (if entrant is under the age of 18) also agree to hold KiDDS Dental harmless from any liability arising from participation in this promotion. KiDDS Dental is not responsible for entries not received because of technical difficulties. KiDDS Dental reserves the right to disqualify any participant to a person who fails to follow these official rules or uses fraudulent means in participating. If for any reason this promotion is not able to be conducted as planned, KiDDS Dental reserves the right to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend this promotion and randomly draw from the entries received up to the cancellation/suspension date.

Liability Release: By participating, each participant and winner waives any and all claims against KiDDS Dental their employees and agents for any personal loss of any kind which may occur from the participation in the promotion.

Publicity: Each winner (and such winner's parent or guardian if any winner is under the age of 18) agrees to permit KiDDS Dental to use his/her name and likeness in promotional and other KiDDS Dental materials, without additional compensation or permission, except where prohibited by law.

This promotion is void where prohibited.

By entering the contest, entrants grant KiDDS Dental license to display, distribute, reproduce contest entries. Winners must sign a media release and will be responsible for paying any taxes they may owe on a prize.

Keep Early Childhood Caries Away

Keep Early Childhood Caries Away

Dentists use the term early childhood caries (ECC), sometimes called baby bottle caries, to describe the presence of one or more decayed, missing or filled teeth in a child younger than six years old. Any sign of tooth decay in a child under the age of three years is considered severe ECC.

The presence of ECC has a major impact on your child’s present and future quality of life. Discomfort, pain, infection, abscesses and gastrointestinal disorders can all result from ECC. It may even lead to malnutrition and retarded growth because of pain, chewing difficulties and reluctance to eat. Other consequences of ECC include crooked teeth, delayed or restricted speech, and loss of space for succeeding teeth. The look of a mouthful of decayed teeth can cause psychological problems, including low self-esteem. And children with ECC have an increased risk of developing cavities in their permanent teeth as well.

How early should you be concerned whether your child is developing ECC? An infant’s first teeth may erupt as early as six months of age, and decay can attack your baby’s teeth as soon as they appear. That’s why the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Dental Association both recommend an initial dental visit by your child’s first birthday.

Unfortunately, many parents delay that first dental appointment until the child is two or three years old. By then, severe ECC may have already set in. A 2006 study published in the journal Pediatric Dentistry presented evidence that children who do not see a dentist before the age of two years are more likely to require emergency visits and tooth restorations. That can get expensive. In fact, children who visit the dentist before their first birthday have 40% lower dental costs between birth and age five. These savings come from less need for dental and medical care resulting from poor oral health.

The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry has coined a slogan to help parents remember: 1 + 1 = 0. One dental visit when the child has one tooth equals zero cavities. A visit to KiDDS Dental by the time the first baby tooth emerges can be the beginning of a preventive dental care program that will minimize tooth decay and cavities throughout your child’s lifetime.

Call us to schedule an appointment today!  509-891-7070. We’d love to meet you and your family!  

Keep Your Child’s Cheesy Grin

Keep Your Child’s Cheesy Grin

Most children love cheese for its taste; parents love cheese for its ability to help promote strong bones. But now it seems that there is another reason to love this calcium-rich snack. Not only are dairy products a healthy alternative to carbohydrate- or sugar-filled food and drink but cheese may also help prevent cavities, bad breath and gum disease.

In a study published in the May/June 2013 issue of the peer-reviewed journal General Dentistry, 68 children, ranging in age from 12 to 15 years, consumed cheese, milk or sugar-free yogurt for three minutes and then rinsed their mouths with plain water. Researchers measured pH levels in the children’s mouths at 10-minute intervals for 30 minutes. A lower pH level means the mouth is more acidic, and acid is what causes tooth enamel erosion, a major contributing factor in developing tooth decay. They found that the pH level rose in the children who ate cheddar cheese, which meant they were at a lower risk for cavities. The same study found no changes in pH levels in the mouths of children who drank milk or ate sugar-free yogurt.

The researchers suggested that chewing cheese increased saliva levels, which can help maintain a higher pH level. In addition, compounds called pyrophosphates found in cheese may stick to tooth surfaces, helping to protect teeth from the harmful effects of acid.

Although yogurt didn’t affect the pH levels in that study, ounce-for-ounce it contains more calcium than milk: An eight-ounce glass of milk contains about 300 mg of calcium while eight ounces of yogurt contains almost 400 mg of the tooth-building mineral. And yogurt contains phosphorous, which helps restore tooth enamel. If your child loves yogurt but you don’t like the sugar substitutes used in sugar-free varieties, try sweetening it with honey, which possesses additional antibacterial properties that can help keep away tooth decay.

Nutritional foods are vital for both your child’s general health and oral health. Talk to us about making good food choices at your child’s next office visit to KiDDS Dental.

Give us a call at 509-891-7070 to schedule today!

It’s Never Too Early to Prevent Cavities

It’s Never Too Early to Prevent Cavities

Dental problems such as cavities (also known as dental caries) can have a major impact on children. Pain and the effect on their appearance may not only leave children feeling bad but can also result in a lifelong fear of dentists. This leaves many parents wondering just how and when to start preventing cavities.

A recent study has shed some light on a factor you may not have considered: how you feed your child. While many parents may think cavity prevention starts only when their child has his or her first tooth, what and how you feed your baby appears to play a crucial role. Certain feeding practices can lead to severe early childhood caries. When that occurs, your child can suffer from

• pain
• chewing problems
• speech difficulties
• poor self-esteem

On top of that, it can be costly to treat severe early childhood caries. Just as your eating habits affect your likelihood of developing cavities, so too do your child’s feeding practices. Children who are breastfed seven or more times a day after they are 12 months old are thought to have a higher incidence of cavities.

Another risky behavior is using a bottle for liquids other than milk. The number of meals and snacks can similarly put your child at a higher risk for cavities.

When it comes to feeding, what you do today can have consequences later for your child. Dr. Jared has information on how you can help prevent cavities in your child. Simple measures such as avoiding or reducing the consumption of foods high in sugar can help. Appropriate intervals between feedings can also make a difference.

Research shows it is critically important that you receive advice before your child transitions from an exclusive milk diet to solid foods.

If you have questions about early prevention of cavities, click here to schedule an appointment with Dr. Jared. Or give us a call at (509)-891-7070.

Is Breast Milk Best for Your Baby’s Teeth?

Is Breast Milk Best for Your Baby’s Teeth?

Is there a link between how a baby is fed (breast vs. bottle) and the future development of cavities? There’s no simple answer to that question.

Here’s what we currently know. First, cavities—technically, dental caries—are infections caused by Streptococcus mutans bacteria. Almost all adults have these bacteria in their mouths, and you will surely transfer them to your baby. If the baby has any teeth, the addition of another necessary element, sugar on a tooth, begins the caries process. The bacteria feed on the sugar and leave acid as a residue; the acid causes decay.

The key, then, is to keep your child’s mouth as sugar-free as possible. That doesn’t just mean sugar out of a box, of course; almost any leftover food or liquid particles (other than plain water) will have sugar or compounds that turn to sugar. That includes baby formula, cow’s milk and breast milk.

One way to get rid of that sugar is to gently clean your child’s gums after each feeding—even before the first tooth erupts, even before he or she eats solid food. Bonus: It will make routine tooth-brushing seem natural as your baby grows up.

The other crucial step to keeping your child’s mouth free of sugar is to make sure he or she does not fall asleep while feeding. The fewer nighttime feedings, the better. If your child falls asleep with breast milk or formula (or any other non-water beverage) in his or her mouth at any time, sugars remain. But at night, everyone (even a baby) makes less saliva, and that contributes to sugars being washed away less efficiently.

Breast milk contains natural chemicals that confer protection of many kinds, including, to some degree, against Streptococcus mutans. Another benefit is that—all other things being equal—breast milk doesn’t contribute to much acid production in your child’s mouth. But those benefits can’t fully counter the risks of prolonged nighttime nursings.

Your child should have his or her first dental appointment no later than when their first tooth erupts. Dr. Jared can give you additional sensible guidelines for caring for your little one’s teeth that will give him or her the best chance of avoiding cavities, whether they are breast- or bottle-fed.

Call us to schedule an appointment today!  509-891-7070.

Hyperdontia—Too Many Teeth

Hyperdontia—Too Many Teeth

When children are born, most will have 20 primary teeth and 32 permanent teeth in their jaws, waiting to erupt at the appropriate time. Some children, however—approximately 1% to 4% of the population—will have additional teeth, a condition known as hyperdontia; the extra tooth is known as a supernumerary tooth. Most children with the condition are otherwise healthy—that means we can usually ensure a good outcome.

There is no clear cause of hyperdontia, but it probably has a genetic basis. While most children with hyperdontia will have just one supernumerary tooth, others may have several. Those children with more than one extra tooth may suffer from other conditions, such as Gardner syndrome (cancerous polyps in the gastrointestinal tract), cleft lip and palate, or Ehler-Danlos syndrome (a disorder of the connective tissue).

Although not all children with extra teeth have negative outcomes, hyperdontia can cause a number of problems, including

• delayed eruption and growth of adjacent teeth
• irregular alignment of teeth
• bite problems

While extra teeth will not automatically cause damage to the mouth or require removal, they should always be monitored. Dr. Jared will make the best decision for treatment based on the location of the tooth and other factors. Your child’s extra tooth might look abnormal or it could look completely normal. Treatment depends on the tooth’s appearance, whether it’s crowding other teeth and how it erupted.

We will check to see whether the extra tooth is likely to prevent future teeth from erupting or cause a nearby one to shift or rotate. It is important that your child see us early on, because parents can’t always detect an extra tooth. A visit to KiDDS Dental within six months of your child’s first tooth’s eruption and regular visits afterward will ensure that hyperdontia and any related problems are detected early.

For some children, orthodontic treatment can be a successful treatment for hyperdontia. Other children may require extraction of the additional tooth, especially if it causes crowding in the mouth. After examining your child’s teeth, we can determine whether he or she has hyperdontia and what is the best course of treatment.

Click here to schedule an appointment with Dr. Jared. Or give us a call at (509)-891-7070.

Hunt Down Plaque at Home

Hunt Down Plaque at Home

If your child brushes and flosses regularly, you probably feel confident that his or her oral health is under control. Unfortunately, that may not be the case. Plaque, the sticky film of bacteria that destroys tooth enamel and causes decay and gum disease, may still be lurking—and since this substance is invisible to the naked eye, you will have no idea that it is there.

Luckily, several products on the market can help identify hidden areas of plaque, so your child can focus on those areas and brush to remove the damaging film before it wreaks havoc on his or her smile.

Two plaque-identifying products can help you see what you normally cannot:

• a reddish dye that adheres to plaque
• a special ultraviolet light that reveals plaque’s hiding places

Plaque-revealing dye

Your child brushes and flosses as usual. Then, he or she either swishes a special mouthrinse or chews a special tablet and swishes the saliva around the mouth for about 30 seconds. After he or she spits out, look into your child’s mouth to see where the dye has settled. The stains reveal areas that need to be brushed again to get rid of missed plaque.

Plaque-revealing light

Your child brushes, flosses and then swishes around the mouth a special fluorescent solution that colors the plaque a bright orange yellow. After your child rinses his or her mouth with water, the dentist can examine the teeth and gums with a special ultraviolet light that allows the unremoved plaque to be seen and removed by further brushing.

Both methods are perfectly safe, but the plaque-revealing light method does not leave stains on your child’s teeth. The dye method may leave some residue; it’s best to use these dyes at night, so any stains can fade by the morning.

These plaque-identifying tools will help you hunt down nasty plaque that would otherwise attack your child’s teeth. If you are unsure about how to use these products or if their use has revealed extensive plaque, Dr. Jared can show you how to search for this sticky substance at home. Learning good oral habits while young can lead to your child’s maintaining healthy teeth and gums for life.

We’d love to meet you and your family! Give us a call at (509)-891-7070 to schedule today!