Spotty Teeth
Many kids or their parents ask me about spots they see on teeth.
There are several different types of spots found on teeth:
- white spots
- chalky yellow spots
- chalky brown spots
- dark brown spots
- black spots
Each of these have different causes but most have similar treatment: Treatment is either leaving it, polishing off the surface of the tooth or placing a filling of some sort.
White spots can be caused by:
Floss – what kind?
Dentists always tell you to floss but rarely tell you what kind of floss to use.
We give our patients lightly-waxed regular floss because most kids do not have large gaps near their gums or tight contacts between their teeth or rough fillings that cut the floss.
Different types of floss available:
- thin unwaxed regular floss
- tape unwaxed regular floss
- thin waxed regular floss
- tape waxed regular floss
Brushing Braces
One of the hardest things to do as an adolescent is to brush your teeth. We give brushing instructions but when you have braces, it becomes much, much, much harder to do a good job.
Brushing teeth and especially brushing around braces requires attention to detail and taking enough time to do it well. These are not traits that teens are famous for.
Invisalign for Teens
More teens can be treated with Invisalign now. Techniques for treating patients with more complicated orthodontic problems were recently discussed in a lecture near Portland.
Invisalign trays move teeth step by step by wearing a series of slightly different aligner trays that push teeth into new positions.
When Invisalign was first developed, it was directed only at adults. Now teens can be treated and even be treated for significantly crooked teeth, even for teens whose teeth must be extracted.
Summer Safety
Summer is the time for kids to get outside and have fun. Unfortunately, it is also the time of year when many accidents occur. In addition to our page on dental emergencies, here are some things you should know:
1. Preventing dental accidents is usually better than dealing with the sometimes serious problems that can occur with a fall or blow to the mouth.
Sleep Dentistry or Deep Sedation
Some children are unable to hold still for dental care even with conscious sedation. For children with many cavities that will take a long time to fill or children too young to understand the need to sit still, we are able to have them go to sleep for their dental fillings.
Today I had a four year old boy from Molalla and a three year old girl from Gladstone needing deep sedation. Deep sedation is not quite general anesthesia like for medical operations but keeps patients just barely asleep.
TMJ disease
An Oregon City High School student came to see me today with complaints about tightness in her jaw. She had heard some clicking and popping for a few months and now her jaw felt tight and she was unable to open as wide as she used to.
These are classic signs of a jaw joint problem that many have heard referred to as TMJ for the temporo-mandibular joint or the connection between the lower jaw and the skull.
Autism & dental care
A recent national Pediatric Dentistry meeting had an excellent speaker, Dr. Cavan Brunsden, DMD, on Autism. Here is some of the material he covered:
- Autism is a developmental disorder of the brain that has no known cure and usually appears before age 3.
- Poor social interactions and communication with repetitive behaviors are indicators of Autism.
- Autistic people have a genetic tendency to be more sensitive to toxins than other people because they cannot easily remove environmental toxins from their bodies.
Toothpaste
Enough parents ask about toothpaste for their kids that it is worth revisiting. See this page for more information on children’s toothpaste. Most of these questions are concerning fluoride in toothpaste. See the article on Fluoride for more information.
Common questions about children and kid’s toothpaste:
- At what age should I start brushing?
As soon as they have teeth use a soft toothbrush with infant toothpaste or a cloth to wipe them clean.
Tongue-Tied?
Some kids are born with a tight connection between the bottom of their tongue and the inside of their lower front teeth that is commonly called tongue-tied, or technically called ankyloglossia.
Newborn babies will sometimes be so tongue-tied that they cannot suckle and need it clipped near birth so they can feed. Most people are not that bad and get by fairly well although some people believe that speech is affected.
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