a board-certified pediatric dentist<\/a>. This home will be where you will pick up all the knowledge you need to help your children avoid dental decay. It will also serve as a place to go in case of emergencies\u2014trust me, kids have dental emergencies all the time and you don\u2019t want to end up in the ER if you can consult with your trusted pediatric dentist. You may wonder what the point of this early visit is if your kid only has a few teeth\u2014but knowledge is power and that\u2019s the point of the visit. More on this topic in another post.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.brushforkids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_4040-225x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Anyway, I would love to impart all of my tooth knowledge to you and eradicate childhood cavities. How cool would that be?! However, I\u2019d like to let you know that it\u2019s ok if your child develops a cavity and how best to deal with it. I want to help you understand why you are seeing some 3rd<\/sup> and 4th<\/sup> graders in braces and how prolonged pacifier use can lead to speech issues as well as orthodontic problems. We can talk more about prevention and sports safety. We can talk bleaching, cosmetics, and about other dental materials. Until next time!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Xx,<\/p>\n
Dr. A<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We\u2019ve all been there. We\u2019ve all had an Oreo\u2122 caked in the grooves of our back molars, even after brushing. What gives? If you haven\u2019t had this experience then now is the chance for an experiment that will win you some major brownie points with your kids. Here\u2019s the secret on how to quickly get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brushforkids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brushforkids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brushforkids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brushforkids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brushforkids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.brushforkids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32,"href":"https:\/\/www.brushforkids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14\/revisions\/32"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brushforkids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brushforkids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brushforkids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.brushforkids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_4043-300x289.jpg\")
What gives? If you haven\u2019t had this experience then now is the chance for an experiment that will win you some major brownie points with your kids. Here\u2019s the secret on how to quickly get these yummy, but sticky snacks off of your teeth\u2026 carrot sticks. Yes, carrot sticks. I call them nature\u2019s-on-the-go-toothbrush. Carrots are like kryptonite to sticky carbs on the teeth and can remove trapped food from the grooves of molars quicker than any toothbrush out there. You can prove this to your children by having one kiddo eat a carrot and either you or another kiddo brush post-Oreo consumption! Still don\u2019t believe me? Check out the attached TMI, semi-gross photos of my very own child doing this experiment at home. Now remember, I\u2019m not claiming we can all throw away our toothbrushes\u2014it\u2019s still critical to brush your children\u2019s teeth 2 minutes twice per day with a fluoride-containing toothpaste. But this little \u201ccrunchy carrot\u201d aid can really help clear the mouth of carbs that decay-causing bacteria utilize to produce harmful acids when you are on the run. And these days, find me a mom who isn\u2019t on the run!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.brushforkids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_4044-300x289.jpg\")
Anyway, I\u2019m first to admit that it is nearly impossible to control every single thing my 9-\u00a0 and 7-year-old boys consume\u2014including Oreos\u2122, cheddar crackers and worse. And I\u2019m at the point where I don\u2019t think I want to. So far, they are cavity free, and I\u2019m going to share a few tips that I am confident have led to this. But first I\u2019m going to also share that my goal is to set my kids up with the knowledge to make good decisions about their oral health and their overall health. I will always be a guide and certainly say \u201cyes\u201d and \u201check no\u201d here and there, but I want to raise kids who are capable of making good decisions. This approach is time consuming, challenging and requires giving up some control, but I think it\u2019s a step in the right direction toward raising independent human beings.<\/p>\n