Category: Dental Care in Childhood

 Yes. Any excessive mineral or vitamin intake can be harmful, no matter your age. In children it’s especially important because their teeth are still developing. In areas where fluoride is naturally high in the soil, special filtration may be needed. If you are on a well water system, it’s important to ensure that fluoride levels comply with state or federal mineral guidelines, so that steps can be taken if it is too high or too low. If too little, teeth

Prescription fluoride use is usually only needed when children have suffered from extensive decay in the past (meaning that the bacteria are still active inside of their mouths,) take certain types of prescriptions due to underlying medical conditions, are developmentally impaired, or undergoing orthodontic treatment. The type of fluoride prescription that’s best for your child’s situation will be something that you want to discuss with your family’s dentist. It may be in the form of a rinse, gel that’s brushed

Lip ties — much like tongue ties — involve natural anatomy that keeps the lips from having a full range of motion. The labial frenum is a tiny strip of skin just inside of the lip, where the center of your lip attaches to the jaw. It ties into the mouth just below the two center teeth, on both the upper and lower arches. Generally, the frenum is loose enough that a baby or child can nurse, suck on a

As uncomfortable as it sounds, most children with a tight labial frenum will eventually bump or fall, naturally tearing the tissue and loosening up the lip. But sometimes that just isn’t the case, or the tissues are too tight that professional intervention is necessary.

A lip tie treatment may be needed as early as 2-3 days old in an infant, or when a child is about to enter school for the first time. It depends on the symptoms noticed by parents and pediatricians. For example, your newborn baby is especially fussy and isn’t soothed when eating. She’s losing weight and your doctor recommends pumping or supplementing with formula in a bottle. She won’t drink it. Upon examination, your pediatrician, midwife, pedodontist or family dentist

Sometimes lip ties aren’t apparent until a child is much older. If your son or daughter is in middle school and requires speech therapy for a lisp or speech impediment, your speech therapist may recommend a labial frenectomy. For older children, a bit of numbing gel or even local anesthetic may be needed. The skin can be trimmed or lasered away. Recovery time is minimal, and there’s no post-operative care needed. Your child will need to use special exercises to

Tongue ties prevent the tongue from being able to have the full range of motion that they ought to. A loose frenum allows the tongue to move further upwards or out of the mouth. If a person has restricted tongue movement, a tongue tie is likely to blame. The lingual frenum is the strip of skin just under your tongue. It attaches somewhere towards the middle-to-anterior belly of the tongue (hence the name “lingual”) to the floor of the mouth. Lingual frenums

Generally speaking, tongue ties are often observed when newborn babies are only a few days old. This occurrence is due to problems nursing or sucking on a bottle. The baby may seem irritable, spit up frequently, need to eat more often, or appear colicky. A lactation consultant, pediatrician, or pediatric dentist are usually the first professionals to confirm whether your newborn’s lingual frenum is the cause of their feeding woes.

Tight skin under the tongue can alter speech patterns. When a person is unable to move their tongue freely to form various shapes, their language skills are directly impacted. If your child has an undiagnosed tie, it will likely become more evident as they age and develop better language skills. An apparent speech impediment should always take tongue anatomy into consideration as part of the speech therapy plan. Seeing a dentist regularly and making them aware of your language development

Severe tongue ties can pull on the tip of the tongue so much, that it begins to cleft at the end. Clefting looks like a visible cut or fork at the tip of the tongue. Most tongue clefts only occur in instances of severely tight lingual frenums.