Cavity Terminators

Welcome to the Dentistry For Kids podcast. We are Angelina and Cameron and we love candy. Do you all love candy? We've learned how to enjoy all the candy we want without getting cavities or getting in trouble with our dentist wants to learn our magic. Join us discover how to enjoy sweets and have nice bright, clean, shiny white teeth. Let's go.

Welcome back to the dentistry for kids Podcast. I'm Cameron and today I'm here with Dr. Joseph Wineman. He has been serving and practicing dentistry for over 40 years and has served as past president of the Southern Nevada Dental Society. Dr. Weidman is currently the vice president of the Nevada Dental Association, which is an organization which he will lead from June 2023, to June 2024. And he is also a participant in Give Kids a Smile program. So for our first question today, what is a dentist and at what age should kids start seeing a dentist,

a dentist is a licensed professional that treats the oral diseases and damage to the structures of the head and neck and mouth. That's that's a pretty wordy way of saying we fix teeth. We make people's smiles better. We take care of infection, we manage trauma to the head neck. And we basically allow patients to eat without any discomfort. Once for the first time for a child to see the dentist. I guess it really depends on who you ask. Some people believe that a child shouldn't be seen until they start losing teeth. That's incorrect. The visit to the first visit to the dentist should be around the time 12 to 18 months. And the reason for that is usually by that time, the young kid has had some teeth erupt. And we want to make sure that the parents mom, dad, grandparents, whoever's helping out with the children during their life understands that there are certain things you can give a kid before you put them to bed, there are certain things that you shouldn't give them. Like it's best to just give them water at bedtime, no milk, nothing in a bottle. No sweet juice, none of those things. And of course, when kids start having teeth, that's the time that they need to have their parents start brushing them. And it's also fine to massage the gum tissues with a little towel lap, or something like that, that slips over your finger to let the mom or dad get in there and gently wipe any debris that may be on the residual ridges. How's that? Good questions? Good answers.

Amazing. And so as kids really, really like to enjoy sweets, they get cavities? Why is a cavity and how do we get cavities?

Well, you've heard the expression that there's nothing more dangerous than a human bite. Because we are a living animal, we have bacteria that are always in our mouth. And some of those bacteria can be rather hazards. There are basically two types of bacteria. You know, they're the ones that like oxygen and the ones that don't. And those are called anaerobic. They don't like oxygen and aerobic bacteria. They enjoy oxygen. So the the biggest culprit that cause cavities in anybody's mouth is Streptococcus mutans is the technical name of the aerobic bacteria that likes to feed on the stuff we leave behind. A cavity is nothing more like if you think about a pothole, how does a pothole develop? a pothole develops because the substrate underneath the roadway breaks down. That can be because of water erosion, a lot of trauma to the road roadway, you know people drop in things on it. But what ends up happening is over time, we break down the asphalt or the concrete that's on the above the surface and it causes a hole that's similar to what happens inside your mouth. Bacteria feed on the food we leave behind. They have a waste product that's an acid and the acid causes deep mineralization of the enamel. That that's the outer laying of her tooth. And when that happens, then the decay can get into the softer portion of the tooth and spread towards the nerve. And that's where you'll get a toothache. If the decay is deep enough close to the pop. So the best thing to do is to try to avoid the amount of debris leave on your teeth in between meals. So that's means the best thing to do would be to brush and floss after you eat breakfast before you're off to school. At school, you should maybe pack a toothpaste and a toothbrush into your backpack. And excuse yourself run out of the bathroom quickly brush your teeth before you stop the start your second half of your day. And then of course, the best time to keep your mouth exceptionally clean is right at bedtime. So that's when you're going to spend as much time as possible to brush floss at least two, two to three minutes with a toothbrush that fits into your mouth. So if you have a small mouth, get a small toothbrush. If you have a big mouth, then you can use a bigger toothbrush. soft bristles are a must and use a toothpaste that's been approved by the American Dental Association. Toothpaste makes brushing fun. It's sweet and your breath gives you a little foam to spit out into the sink. But it's it's really, it's really not needed. But it does make it fun. And kids are all about fun.

You are a super expert. Wow. So

long time camera. Okay, a lot of people ask me well, what causes decay. Now here's another thing I would recommend to your listeners is that they should not wait until they have a toothache for them to visit the dentist. It's a lot better for the dentists, whether it's a pediatric dentist, somebody who specializes in treating youngsters or general dentists like me to be checked out at least twice a year. And that way we can find stuff when it's small. There are preventive measures that we can take to keep the K from starting. And I'm sure everybody knows that when you're six years old, you get your first permanent molars. And at that time, those six year molars should be sealed with a pit and fissure sealant. What that is it's sort of the equivalent of waxing your car. So you have nooks and crannies and your back teeth. And those are areas that can start to get cavities. But if your dentist puts on a sealant, think of it as like waxing your dad's beautiful car. If you wax it, it's easier to keep it clean. When it rains, that just beads away. And when you wash it, you can quickly wipe it off and everything is back to looking great. So it's the same thing with a Ceylon. We recommend that permanent molars receive sealants as soon as they are fully erupt. And we can apply the material to the occlusal surface the biting surface.

So how would you or how would one choose like a good Kid's Dentist?

Well, let me ask you this question, Cameron? Yes. How do you? How do you find a good hairdresser? Or maybe you've done this before? A good babysitter? How does that happen?

Well, I read reviews, and experience reviews.

That's one way. But usually you're going to ask co workers, neighbors, friends, family, where they go, what sort of experience they have had, most dentists will advertise. But most of the people that arrive into my practice are all from word of mouth. They've heard about how we, how we operate, that we're very family friendly, that when you come we don't keep you waiting, we see you on time. And I realized that patients time, if you're taking time off from school, or time off from work, you don't want to miss more time than you must. So it's word of mouth. Recommendations reviews. Yes, Google, Yelp. big time players in today's dental field. Okay, perfect. So, next question.

How often should kids get their teeth cleaned?

Every day, they should brush their teeth every day. So professionally, we would recommend that kids get their teeth cleaned twice a year at their dentist office, maybe a fluoride treatment, sealants being applied and depending on On the the amount of decay that that kid may have maybe x rays every 12 to 18 months. But if they have a lot of decay, then you're probably going to get X rays every time you see the dentist just to make sure that nothing's getting out of control. Twice a year would be best.

Now, as a super expert, do you have any tricks to make kids fall in love with their toothbrush,

make it fun, some way shape or form. There's spinning toothbrushes, there's Sonic brushes, I recommend for kids, especially when they get to be adolescent preteen teenagers, most people don't spend a lot of time on the oral health until they start getting interested in the opposite sex. So when they have a boyfriend when they have a girlfriend, and they're worried about their breaths, smelling or being gross, or having that Cheetos look, after they've had lunch, they'll usually will start brushing their teeth more effectively. What I suggest to parents is, depending on who they want to model after, if it's a boy, I usually will tell them, you know, I will tell the dad, get in there and brush your teeth with your kid. Show him how you do it. You know, you can get a little egg timer, you know everybody's got one of these a smartphone, put the timer on, let it go for three minutes and keep brushing until the timer goes off. At least that way we know that there has been contact time between brush and tooth. And with a small amount of toothpaste, you can really make your breath better. And you can keep cavities at bay. Perfect.

So when would one know when their baby teeth is are ready to go?

Well, it's easy to know they're going to get ready to go because they get loose. Baby teeth get loose because the permanent teeth, the rocks underneath them. And as the permanent tooth erupts, it starts eating away at the root of the primary tooth. And when your tooth falls out, it looks like a little Chiclet just a little square, it doesn't really have much root surface to it. Now, when you're older and you have your wisdom teeth removed. Usually those things are, you know they got a crown on it and they got the route attached. Usually by first grade, sometimes kindergarten, you'll start getting loose tea. And then of course you need to visit from the tooth fairy. And everybody knows what you're supposed to do with a with a baby tooth that you've lost. You put it in a little pillow, wrap it up at some toilet paper or something and slide it under your pillow for the Tooth Fairy to come and take it away and leave you a little treat behind so that your teeth will get loose, you'll have 20 teeth that you're going to lose as a young kid. And those will be replaced by 32 adult teeth. And some people have all 32 And some people don't. I guess that's a that's a question you could ask your friends. How many teeth do you have? Or how many teeth have you lost? And of course, the big question is, How much money did the Tooth Fairy give you?

I love that. So what are top things parents should know to make sure their kids have amazing oral health.

The best way to have good oral health for your kids is for you as the parent, mom, dad, older brother, older sister, to show the young kids how to take care of their teeth by you doing it. And if you know tell show do is a good thing to do. You know, tell him what to do. Show him what to do. Explain it to him, do it with them. And then make sure that they're doing it right. For real. I'm sure a lot of kids try to outwit their parents, when the parents say Go brush your teeth, and they run into the bathroom, they get their toothbrush wet, they maybe throw some water in their mouth, they spit it out, and then they come run and back out. And we all know that it's two to three minutes contact time between brushing teeth. So you can't do it during a 32nd commercial. It's impossible. And now with a lot of kids staying in their rooms and doing homework, playing video games being on their phone. The best thing to do is before you're going to jump into bed and get all nice and warm, you should brush your teeth. So in case you fall asleep, you know those cavity creeps don't have any food left to mancia okay, you're so cool. Look, dad here, you tell me that Oh, between you and me, okay.

Do you have any final words you would like to say to your audience,

ask questions of your dentist. Ask questions of the dental hygienist. If you see one of those in the practice you go to. If you have a question, ask, ask. And if you don't understand the answer, then ask the question in a different way. Your body is designed to have your teeth last forever. However, it's like a car. It's like your favorite video game. It's like your phone. You have to take care of it. You can't drop it. You can't kick it. You don't want to get punched in the face. You You don't want to wear you want to wear a mouthguard if you play a contact sport. You know, so if you play flag football, I think all the legs in this town require young boys and girls to wear a mouthguard if they play. But if you play lacrosse, football, soccer, basketball, there's anytime there's a possibility of a contact with an elbow into your head or your mouth with a ball. You should probably wear a mouthguard just to protect your smile and allow your teeth to take you through your life without any damage or destruction. So that's my that would be my best thing to do. Ask questions. Be careful. Maintain your teeth and visit a dentist Reiko

thank you so much for your time today. Dr. Wyman, you are my idol role model.

Well, thank you so much. I wish you continued success with your podcasts and I was so honored that you chose me to to answer some questions for you tonight.

Thank you so much. Have a nice day.

All right. See you later.