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Baby teeth are very important to your child’s present and future dental health, so we want to help you keep your child free from cavities and gum disease even before those permanent teeth erupt. That’s why we recommend professional cleanings at our Florence office—to keep plaque and tartar from damaging little teeth and gums.

But a dental cleaning might be a bit stressful for young children, especially when they’re not used to the steps, the sounds, and the sensations of the cleaning process.

So, just as we strive to make every examination and visit a positive experience for your child, we do our best to make their cleanings a happy, stress-free time. How do we do this? With your help!

• Preparation

A happy experience begins even before your child arrives in the office. If you are relaxed and positive before an appointment, you’ll help your child feel relaxed and positive, too.

Explaining what goes on during a cleaning even before your visit will help your child feel more comfortable when unfamiliar tools like dental mirrors, scalers, and polishing brushes are used. You can talk about your own experience, read a book together, watch a video, or find online resources to help your child understand what will happen during your visit, and why cleanings are so important for happy, healthy teeth.

Sometimes children benefit from a form of mild, conscious sedation (such as nitrous oxide) when they have special health needs or dental anxiety. If you feel this is an option we should discuss, please talk to us in advance and we’ll answer any of your questions.

• Pre-Cleaning Examination

After being made welcome in the office and settled comfortably in the dental chair, we’ll examine your child’s teeth and gums for any signs of plaque and tartar.  A small, handled mirror is used to check out hard-to-see places behind the teeth and in the back of the mouth. Gum health is also important, and your child’s gums will be examined for any signs of gingivitis, or mild gum disease.

Plaque and tartar cause cavities and gum disease, even for young children. Finding any trouble spots will let us know where to concentrate on cleaning, and where you can help your child to brush more effectively.

• Removing Plaque and Tartar

No matter how well a child (or an adult!) brushes and flosses, plaque can build up in some hard-to-reach spots, especially between the teeth and along the gumline. And if plaque isn’t removed within a few days, it starts hardening into tartar—and tartar can’t be brushed away.

That’s why removing tartar is a job for a dental professional. Using a special tool called a scaler, we gently scrape built-up plaque and tartar off tooth enamel (especially where it tends to accumulate behind and between teeth) and near the gumline. Sometimes an ultrasonic scaler can be used to dislodge tartar with sound waves.

Scalers can make a scraping noise and cause some pressure, and ultrasonic scalers use a stream of water as they clean. We’re happy to explain, in an age-appropriate way, why tools make these noises and how they work to clean little teeth.

• Polishing & Flossing

After the plaque and tartar are removed, your child’s teeth will be polished with a power brush and a special gritty toothpaste. This is usually a bit noisy as well. A careful flossing and a final rinse will wash away any leftover particles or paste.

Once the teeth are cleaned, you may choose to have a fluoride treatment or a dental sealant applied to your child’s teeth.

• After a Cleaning

Your praise and encouragement are always welcome! Giving children praise for helping keep those little teeth clean, shiny, and healthy makes them partners in the process.

How do we clean your child’s teeth? Gently. Thoroughly. Expertly. We want to make sure each cleaning is just one of the many positive dental experiences your child will have in our office. Help us make your child’s cleaning appointment stress-free with positive preparation and reinforcement, and together we’ll start your child on the path to a lifetime of shining smiles and proactive dental care!

Halloween is an annual event celebrated by both children and adults every October 31. Some scholars claim that it originates from the celebration of Celtic festivals that honored the dead and harvest season. This day marks the end of summer, and the transition to cold winter months ahead. No matter what the origin may be, Dr. Robin E. Lents and our team hope all our patients have a fun and safe Halloween!

The History of Halloween

North America predominantly celebrates Halloween by dressing up in costumes, going trick-or-treating to collect candy, and eating an abnormal amount of sweets. This tradition goes back hundreds of years and usually involves celebrations throughout the month of October.

Halloween festivities can also include carving pumpkins, going on hayrides, visiting apple orchards and haunted houses, watching scary movies, attending costume parties, and much more!

Spooky Facts

• Fifty percent of kids prefer to receive chocolate candy for Halloween, compared with 24% who prefer non-chocolate candy and 10% who preferred gum.
• One quarter of all the candy sold each year in the U.S. is purchased for Halloween.
• The first jack o’ lanterns were actually made from turnips.
• Halloween is the second highest-grossing commercial holiday after Christmas.
• The largest pumpkin ever measured broke the world record in 1993 by weighing in at 836 lbs.

Worried about your child’s teeth?

• Limit the amount of candy he or she consumes each day.
• Have your child brush his or her teeth after eating candy.
• Avoid hard, chewy candies, because they can stick in hard-to-brush places.
• Keep candy out of sight to reduce temptation.
• Don’t buy candy too far in advance so you can limit pre-Halloween consumption.
• Help or encourage your kids to floss.

Moderation is key when it comes to your oral health and celebrating Halloween. Make sure to schedule your child’s next appointment at our Florence office if you notice any issues with his or her teeth. We hope you have a fun and spooky Halloween!

We all remember hearing this: “Finish your milk, it’s good for your bones!” If you have kids of your own now, you may catch yourself repeating many of the things you were told growing up.

Though parents occasionally exaggerate to get their kids to do certain things (such as eat veggies or behave), they’re spot-on about milk. Consuming enough dairy every day is crucial for growing children, because this can set them up to have strong and healthy teeth for the rest of their lives.

To understand the effects of dairy on your child’s teeth, take a look at tooth structure. Think of it in terms of layers: the innermost layer is the living tissue, the second layer is dentine (a calcified tissue), and the final one is the enamel, aka the white part of the tooth. Keep in mind that 96 percent of your enamel is made up of minerals like calcium.

Now, milk and other dairy products are excellent sources of calcium, so when you consider the need to build strong enamel for the first line of defense, it’s easy to see the connection between dairy and good dental health. When your son or daughter consumes dairy products, the body sends the incoming calcium to growing bones, which includes teeth.

This makes children’s teeth and bones stronger all around. Growing youngsters who do not get enough dairy in their diet are at risk for improper tooth development, as well as other dental problems.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, children under the age of eight should be receiving at least two and a half cups of dairy per day. Children older than eight require three full cups, which is the same amount recommended for male and female adults.

If you’re looking for easy ways to incorporate dairy into your children’s diet, try snacks like cottage cheese, a milk-based smoothie, yogurt, cheese sticks, non-fat milk, and fruit parfaits, to name a few. Once you get a feel for what they like most, furnishing the ideal amount of dairy to their diet should be no problem!

If you’re concerned about your child’s teeth or have questions about a healthy diet, don’t hesitate to contact our Florence office and ask a member of our team.

When you were younger, and you brushed your teeth without any help for the first time, it was a big step. It meant you’d learned the right way to brush to keep your teeth and gums healthy. But why does brushing help keep you healthy? Let’s talk about plaque!

• What Is Plaque?

Plaque rhymes with “attack,” and that’s just what it does to your teeth. If you don’t brush for a few days (which is a bad idea!), plaque is the reason for that fuzziness you feel when you run your tongue over your teeth.

If your teeth feel fuzzy, that means that plaque has been building up for a while. But how does it begin?

Plaque is made up of saliva, bits of food, other liquids, and tiny little organisms called bacteria. While most of the bacteria in our bodies don’t bother us—and some even help us—the bacteria in plaque are not so helpful.

Plaque starts with a type of bacteria that stick to the teeth, loosely at first, and then more strongly. Within hours, they join with saliva, bits of food, and other bacteria and bacterial products to make a very sticky film. This film is plaque.

Why is it so important to brush plaque away every day? As Dr. Robin E. Lents will tell you, plaque can cause cavities and hurt your gums.

• How Does Plaque Cause Cavities?

Bacteria are like us—they need food. The bacteria in plaque especially like the sugars we eat. (That’s why you shouldn’t have too much junk food or candy in your diet.) Bacteria change these sugary building blocks into a kind of acid, and because plaque is sticky, the acids stay on your teeth.

These acids breaks down the enamel, that hard coating which covers teeth. Tiny weak spots can grow and become holes in the enamel. We call these holes cavities, and your dentist can repair them by cleaning away the decay and putting a filling in your tooth to protect it.

But it’s best to prevent cavities from ever starting by brushing and flossing. Even though plaque is sticky, it is easy to brush away when you do it every day.

• How Does Plaque Hurt Your Gums?

The gums surround our teeth and help protect them, but they are also delicate. When plaque builds up, it can irritate your gums.

You might notice that your gums get red, feel sore when you brush, or look puffy. You might have bad breath that doesn’t go away. All these are signs that your gums are reacting to the plaque around them.

The good news is that careful brushing and flossing can usually fix these problems. Talk to Dr. Robin E. Lents about taking good care of your gums.

• Can We Fight Plaque?

Yes! From the time you were small and learned how to brush, you’ve been learning how to fight plaque.

• Brush at least twice a day for two minutes, and be sure to brush all around each tooth and the gums.
• Floss to remove plaque from where it hides between the teeth and near the gums.
• Visit our Florence office for a cleaning, to remove plaque from hard-to-reach places and to learn the best ways to brush and floss.

As soon as you finish brushing, plaque starts to build up again. But no need to worry! Keep brushing, flossing, and visiting us for regular cleanings, and all your careful work will be rewarded will a beautiful, healthy smile.