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Parent’s Guide to Children’s Loose Teeth:

So, your child has his/her first loose tooth/teeth.…this milestone may be met with eagerness as well as anxiety by your little one.  They are excited that they are growing up and getting their adult teeth and for the tooth fairy coming to visit!  However, many children often have questions regarding pain and bleeding when it comes to loosing a tooth.  Assuring your child that loosing a baby tooth is not scary and rather fun will help the process.

The typical age for permanent teeth to begin erupting is between 5 and 6 years old.   Teeth in the front tend to erupt in pairs.  It is most common for the front bottom two teeth to become loose together.

It is important to constantly “wiggle” the loose tooth to loosen up the fibers surrounding the tooth and gum area.  The root of the baby tooth has already been absorbed by the body as the permanent teeth are moving up and into position.  Not all baby teeth are as simple as wiggling them to loosen them enough to pull out/fall out on their own.  Some fibers are super strong and require a dentist for removal.

Encouraging your child to constantly wiggle their loose tooth will make pulling the baby tooth much more enjoyable.  More importantly expediting the process will help to ensure the adult teeth will erupt in proper placement.  Thoughts of the Tooth Fairy coming to visit will help encourage your little one to get that baby tooth out!  It is helpful to let your child know in advance that there will be lots of blood, like with a nosebleed.

When it comes to explaining the discomfort, that truly depends on the child.  It is best to let them know ahead of time that they will feel “tugging” if you are the one who is going to remove the tooth.  To have the least amount of discomfort, be sure that the tooth is extremely loose.  Meaning, it can wiggle front to back and side to side easily.

Lastly, it is very important to let your child know that these teeth are to last he/she a lifetime.  Teaching your child the benefits of having clean healthy teeth and gums and preventing tooth decay is one of the specialties we have at my Biological Family Dental Office.  Please speak with one of my friendly team members to schedule your child’s dental appointment (951)686-3666.

Probiotics have made their mark in treating a variety of stomach ailments.  Probiotics work by adding beneficial bacteria to the lining of the stomach that have been destroyed by toxins we eat/drink on a daily basis.  By promoting healthy intestine flora, probiotics help to strengthen the immune system.  Probiotics have become an alternative option when treating allergies, stress, HIV infection, cancer, and mainly colorectal carcinoma.  However, when it comes to treating the oral cavity, very little research has been published.

The mouth is considered the the first part of the gastrointestinal tract, rather the entry way to the stomach.  We know how the toxins we place in our body through processed and acidic food and drinks affect the stomach in a negative way.  It only makes sense that these toxins disrupt the oral flora.

Probiotics in dairy form have a high amount of dairy (lactic acid) and calcium which can reduce the pH and adhere to the dental bio-film helping to prevent the “bad bacteria” from attaching to the bio-film.  Great choices for probiotic containing food are: yogurt, milk, and cheese.

As a Biological Dentist, my goal is to treat the body as a whole system.  Probiotics are beneficial to the health and well-being of  children and adults.  The current push for research on probiotics and oral health is exciting, I am anticipating that probiotics will prove to be beneficial in the prevention of tooth decay.  Please contact my Biological Dental Wellness office at (951)686-3666 for a  comprehensive biological approach on dentistry.

My blog on mercury toxicity last month discussed the ways in which we can absorb mercury in our body.  Mercury  can be found as a liquid, vapor, or solid.  The form of mercury an individual is exposed to will determine how the body absorbs it.  Each form of mercury settles in the body differently, thus having different impacts on the body.

The two main forms of mercury exposure to date are from fish and seafood as well as dental amalgam metal fillings.

Methylmercury is found among fish and seafood.

This “organic” form of mercury is a potential health hazard due to it being readily absorbed by the stomach and intestines.  After being absorbed, the mercury travels to the nervous system where it can cause damage.  In pregnant women, an overexposure of mercury can harm the development of the brain as well as potentially affect the heart and circulatory system.  Methylmercury has also been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as “possibly carcinogenic.”

Elemental mercury is mercury that is inhaled typically with dental amalgam fillings.  The vapors are easily absorbed through the lungs and move through the bloodstream and pass the blood/brain barrier.  However, when elemental mercury is ingested, very little is absorbed by the body.

The inhalation of Elemental mercury vapor can cause:

Tremors

Emotional Instability

Insomnia

Memory loss

Neuromuscular changes

Headaches

Damage to kidneys

Damage to Thyroid

Please visit our Riverside Biological Safe Mercury Removal Dental office at (951)686-3666. Say tuned for Part 3 in my series of blogs discussing mercury toxicity, where I will address the ways to find out if there is too much mercury in your system.

Fluoride-free  Biological Dentist Sothern California:

More and more research in the past decade has revealed that fluoride does not aid in the prevention of tooth decay.  Alarmingly, research is showing the toxic effect of fluoride to our body.  Fluoride can cause a variety of chronic illnesses.   Dental fluorosis along with negative effects on the thyroid, kidney, liver are just to name a few.  What is most disturbing to me is that fluoride is now linked to cancer; rather it’s consumption causes an increase of cancer.  Specifically, fluoride is now linked to  bone cancer.  Here is a link to a very informative website which sites research articles which expose theharmful effects of fluoride.  http://www.all-natural.com/fleffect.html

Where is Fluoride found?

Fluoride can be naturally found in fruits and vegetables due to it being in the soil.  However, the majority of exposure we get is from water fluoridation.  Interestingly, fluoride levels in our fruits and vegetables vary depending upon the amount of fluoride present in the watering system of the vegetation.  Fluoride is also found in the atmosphere, from gasses in industrial waste and the burning of  coal.  Let’s also not forget fluoride is in most toothpastes and a variety of oral rinses.

My Riverside Biological Fluoride-free dental office offers patients biocompatible materials when dental treatment is provided, as well as, the best in preventative products to use at home.  Please call to schedule your fluoride-free dental visit at (951)686-3666.

Detecting HPV with Velscope in our Riverside Biological Dental Office:

As I was listening to our local news here in Southern California, frightening news of an increase of head and neck cancer was reported.  The culprit….the Human Papilloma Virus better known as HPV.  This virus is seemingly silent in men who carry it, however women who are infected with this virus are at a high risk for cervical cancer.  In the past decade, a new vaccine has come out in hopes of protecting children, women and men from this virus that is known to cause a variety of cancers.  However, with vaccines extremely controversial, I recommend that everyone become their own advocate in making the decision to vaccinate or not to vaccinate.  My hopes with discussing HPV is to inform all individuals of the importance of the oral cancer screening.

Here at my Riverside Biological and Cosmetic Dental office, we have researched the best in technology used for detecting oral cancer.  The Velscope uses technology utilizing a fluorescent blue  light to detect abnormal tissue in the mouth.  Simply, tissue that is normal illuminates “blue/green” where abnormal tissue is visibly “black.”  When an area in the mouth is questionable, I recommend a biopsy to rule out any oral cancer.  I highly recommend that the Velscope is used on all patients twice yearly to monitor the tissue in the mouth.

Here are a few interesting facts on HPV and how it relates to Head and Neck Cancer:

HPV is now associated with oral cancers predominately at the base of tongue and tonsils

Most men and women who have don’t even know they have it

A new study on HPV revealed that 50% men infected with HPV do not know they have it

HPV is commonly known for causing cervical cancer in women

20 million Americans have HPV

HPV typically clears up on its own

32,000 infections of HPV a year develop into cancer

Please visit my Riverside Biological and Cosmetic Dental office for your comprehensive oral cancer exam using the Velscope technology.  We are located just off of the 91-freeway and Riverside, please call us at (951)686-3666.