Avoid Cavities

At Kidz Connextion we want your child to have the healthiest mouth achievably possible. This includes avoiding cavities at all cost. When he or she eats foods or drinks containing sugars; the bacteria in the plaque produce acids that attack tooth enamel. The stickiness of the plaque keeps these acids in contact with your teeth and over time the enamel can break down, causing cavities to form.

Tooth decay – also called cavities or dental caries – can happen to anyone but are a particularly common problem for children and young adults. Left untreated, dental cavities can become infected and eventually, tooth decay can eventually result in tooth loss. The best way to prevent dental problems associated with tooth decay is to practice good oral hygiene. Be sure to always brush and floss your teeth regularly and visit our doctors at Kidz Connextion twice a year for a dental cleaning and checkup.

If you suspect your child may be cavity prone, please give us a call to discuss treatment options. To learn more about our pediatric services here at the office visit www.kidzconnextion.com for more information. To schedule an appointment in Phoenix AZ, call 623-223-1001.

How Do Pacifiers Affect Baby Teeth?

It’s one of the hardest habits to break and can require a great deal of persuasion – parents often struggle with weaning their child off a pacifier. Yes, pacifiers provide a sense of security and a method of self-relaxation for infants, but the downside of pacifiers is the effect they can have on the growth and development of the teeth and mouth. At Kidz Connextion, we always welcome new patients, especially those who have yet to wean off of the pacifier.

Prolonged pacifier use can cause changes in the shape of the roof of the mouth, prevent proper growth of the mouth and create problems with tooth alignment. Long-term pacifier use can lead to a variety of complications including tilting in of the bottom teeth and slanting in of the top and front teeth. Narrowing of the roof of the mouth and misalignment of the jaws can also occur. The Academy of General Dentistry recommends that children stop using pacifiers by the age of two. Up until that age, any alignment problem with the teeth or developing bone is usually corrected within six months after pacifier use has stopped.

If you have questions about pacifiers and teeth development, give us a call. To learn more about our pediatric services here at the office visit www.kidzconnextion.com for more information. To schedule an appointment in Phoenix AZ, call 623-223-1001.

Baby Tooth Care Tips

Baby teeth may be small, but they act as important placeholders for permanent teeth to come. To help prevent the buildup of plaque bacteria that can lead to decay, our doctors at Kidz Connextion recommend regularly cleaning your newborn’s gums with a damp washcloth following feedings. It’s important to start cleaning your child’s teeth before they come in to jumpstart a healthy smile.

Wipe the gums off after each feeding with a warm, wet washcloth or a dampened piece of gauze wrapped around your finger. In addition, take measures to prevent baby bottle tooth decay, a disease that causes severe, swift decay of baby teeth. To help prevent it, do not put your baby to bed with a bottle of formula or a sugary drink, such as juice. The possibility of tooth decay is directly related to the number of times that sugar comes in contact with the teeth. Your child’s baby teeth act as placeholders for adult teeth. Without a healthy set of baby teeth, your child risks having trouble chewing and speaking clearly as they get older.

If you have questions about your child’s oral care, please give us a call. To learn more about our pediatric services here at the office visit www.kidzconnextion.com for more information. To schedule an appointment in Phoenix AZ, call 623-223-1001.

Baby Bottle Tooth Decay

Parents may not realize, but giving an infant a sugary drink at nap or nighttime is harmful because, during sleep, the flow of saliva decreases, allowing the sugary liquids to linger on the child’s teeth for an extended period of time. This can lead to baby bottle tooth decay and our staff at Kidz Connextion would like you to know the dangers of this condition. Baby bottle tooth decay is caused by the frequent and long-term exposure of a child’s teeth to liquids containing sugars. This is why it’s important to clean your infant’s gums with a warm washcloth after each feeding.

Baby teeth are placeholders for permanent teeth, so it is important to keep their gums healthy from birth. If teeth are infected or lost too early due to baby bottle tooth decay, your child may develop poor eating habits, speech problems, crooked teeth, and perhaps damaged adult teeth. It is important to not only begin brushing your child’s teeth (without toothpaste) when his or her first tooth comes in, you should also schedule regular dental visits by your child’s first birthday.

If you have questions about your child’s dental health, please give us a call. To learn more about our pediatric services here at the office visit www.kidzconnextion.com for more information. To schedule an appointment in Phoenix AZ, call 623-223-1001.

Are You Brushing Correctly?

 

If you’ve ever licked your tongue and felt a fuzzy buildup, that buildup is called plaque and it can be very dangerous if not removed promptly. Plaque can lead to periodontal disease and eventually tooth decay if a proper oral hygiene routine is not practiced on a daily basis.  Our staff at Kidz Connextion can’t stand behind you while you brush your teeth, but we can encourage you to brush at least twice a day for two minutes. He can also provide you with these brushing tips, to make sure that you are doing the job correctly. 

• Place your toothbrush at a 45-degree angle against the gums.

• Move the brush back and forth gently in short (tooth-wide) strokes. 

• Brush the outer tooth surfaces, the inner tooth surfaces, and the chewing surfaces of the teeth.

• Use the tip of the brush to clean the inside surfaces of the front teeth, using a gentle up-and-down stroke.

• Brush your tongue to remove bacteria 

If you have questions regarding your oral hygiene routine, please give us a call. To learn more about our pediatric services here at the office visit www.kidzconnextion.com for more information. To schedule an appointment in Phoenix AZ, call 623-223-1001.

If you’ve ever licked your tongue and felt a fuzzy buildup, that buildup is called plaque and it can be very dangerous if not removed promptly. Plaque can lead to periodontal disease and eventually tooth decay if a proper oral hygiene routine is not practiced on a daily basis.  Our staff at Kidz Connextion can’t stand behind you while you brush your teeth, but we can encourage you to brush at least twice a day for two minutes. He can also provide you with these brushing tips, to make sure that you are doing the job correctly.

• Place your toothbrush at a 45-degree angle against the gums.


• Move the brush back and forth gently in short (tooth-wide) strokes.


• Brush the outer tooth surfaces, the inner tooth surfaces, and the chewing surfaces of the teeth.


• Use the tip of the brush to clean the inside surfaces of the front teeth, using a gentle up-and-down stroke.


• Brush your tongue to remove bacteria

If you have questions regarding your oral hygiene routine, please give us a call. To learn more about our pediatric services here at the office visit www.kidzconnextion.com for more information. To schedule an appointment in Phoenix AZ, call 623-223-1001.

 

The Proper Flossing Technique

Flossing is an essential part of taking care of your teeth and gums. In fact, it helps to remove plaque from the areas between your teeth where your toothbrush can’t reach. This is important because plaque that is not removed by brushing and flossing can eventually harden into tartar which only our hygienists at Kidz Connextion will be able to remove. Therefore, the next time you floss you should utilize these tips.

• Starting with about 18 inches of floss, wind most of the floss around each middle finger, leaving an inch or two of floss to work with.


• Holding the floss tightly between your thumbs and index fingers, slide it gently up-and-down between your teeth.


• Gently curve the floss around the base of each tooth, making sure you go beneath the gum line.


• Use clean sections of floss as you move from tooth to tooth.

If you have questions about maintaining your oral health regimen, please give us a call. To learn more about our pediatric services here at the office visit www.kidzconnextion.com for more information. To schedule an appointment in Phoenix AZ, call 623-223-1001.

Tooth Colored Fillings

To treat a cavity, our dentists at Kidz Connextion will remove the decayed portion of the tooth and then “fill” the area on the tooth where the decayed material was removed. Fillings are also used to repair cracked or broken teeth that have been worn down from misuse (tooth grinding). Here at the office. we utilize white fillings, also known as tooth colored fillings because they exude the most natural looking appearance.

Composite resins (tooth colored fillings) provide solid durability and resistance to fracture in small to mid-size fillings that need to survive the moderate pressure from the constant pressure of chewing. Composite fillings require the tooth to be kept clean and dry while the cavity is being filled, which is why they may take longer to apply than any other type of filling. Although no filling lasts forever, tooth colored fillings have been known to last for over 10 years. It is a safe, affordable and attractive solution for many dental drawbacks.

If you have questions regarding fillings, please give us a call. To learn more about our pediatric services here at the office visit www.kidzconnextion.com for more information. To schedule an appointment in Phoenix AZ, call 623-223-1001.