O is sometimes fearful of new situations so we talked A LOT about the dentist and we practiced playing dentist.
When he got in the chair he was all smiles - our boy was so brave. The tech showed him out the spin brush works and gave him an awesome pair of sunglasses to wear for the appointment (which O insisted in wearing upside down). When Dr. Aaron came in and examined O's teeth he said there wasn't any plaque so he didn't use the spin brush to clean. He just brushed his teeth with a regular tooth brush and instructed us to start a very, very small amount (like put a drop on and then swipped it off with his finger) of fluoride toothpaste and encourage Owen to spit. All clean and they will see him back in six months!
Gil tagged along for the ride too!
Afterwards we went out to a special brunch to celebrate our big boy at the dentist!
So proud of our big brave boys <3
ReplyDeleteWay to go O! Tam, do you have fluoride in the water there or do you give O fluoride drops? Is this the first time you've used flouride toothpaste with him? What did you use prior?
ReplyDeleteWe have fluoride in the water but Dr. said it's next to nothing. Toothpaste has A TON of fluoride in it, too much actually for kids. He literally put a dab on the toothbrush and then swiped off the dab leaving only a thin mark on the toothbrush. Said that is all the fluoride kids need.
ReplyDeleteWe used training toothpaste up until now. Now we used kids fluoride toothpaste a few times per week and then Toms strawberry paste the rest of the time (fluoride free)
Interesting that dentists have such different recommendations. It actually really freaks me out. So Owen was just recently introduced to any fluoride of any kind, right? We have no fluoride in the water here, so when C's teeth were coming in when he was a little guy we gave him fluoride drops that his ped prescribed, a few times a week. Did that a while and then stopped He gets his mouth swiped with fluoride twice a year at the dentist, and he's been brushing with Crest Kids with fluoride since he learned to spit. Some of the kids in C's class also take a prescribed fluoride chewable, but C's dentist advised against that saying that brushing with fluoride toothpaste is all he needs right now. I just don't get why the recommendations differ from dentist to dentist...how do parents even stand a chance??
ReplyDeleteRecommendations might change because of the level of fluoride in the water but otherwise should follow AAPD best practices policies and recommendations.
ReplyDeleteOverarching recommendations (says cleanings should start at 2 our pedi always takes a good look in the mouth and for fear purposes we were happy to start at 3) http://www.aapd.org/media/Policies_Guidelines/G_Periodicity.pdf
Not using the rubber cleaning spin brush or "selective polishing" was seen as important not to be too abrasive on delicate enamel. http://www.aapd.org/media/Policies_Guidelines/P_Prophylaxis.pdf
Our water is properly fluoridated so supplementation isn't an issue for us. Fluoride recommendations are here: http://www.aapd.org/media/Policies_Guidelines/P_FluorideUse.pdf
Dentists in your area see kids much, much earlier than they do here. I wonder if that is because of the no fluoride in the water. I worked in a county in OH where the water wasn't fluoridated and the dental caries rates were off the charts.
Also, here is the most recent information on breastfeeding and oral hygiene.
http://jada.ada.org/content/144/2/143.full.pdf+html