Keeping Our Teeth Young
Improve Your Dental Habits
By Dr. Donna Bautista

It's amazing to see the innate personalities of kids at such an early age. Back when my niece was a year old, she insisted on holding her toothbrush and occasionally gagging herself. I still remember her headstrong cries every time I took it away and tried to hide it. She is still pretty willful and spirited today at the age of five-she is one of the joys in my life. Part of my enjoyment of caring for patients of all ages is getting to know each unique personality and working with this individual to achieve a healthy mouth.

Every age group has its dental challenges and risk factors. Young children have "baby" teeth and depend on parents to help keep their teeth clean until about the age of 7 (when they are more manually dexterous). Teens, on the other hand, bear the responsibility of keeping up with their teeth, but can present the greatest challenge in terms of motivation. There is certainly a balance between telling your teen what to do and hoping they will choose wisely on their own. Red, puffy gums and new cavities are common findings amongst this particular age population in our office. This is usually attributed to less-than-adequate dental home care and diet. By having a dialogue with your teen that is non-judgmental, we can work towards motivating and educating. In the end, we hope to get one step closer to improved oral health and increasing your teen's dental IQ.

Here are a few ways to improve dental habits and help stay on track for all of us:

- Use an electric toothbrush with a timer. Many of us do not brush often or long enough. If your teeth feel "fuzzy" with plaque, you know it's time to brush your teeth. Please do so especially before bedtime!

- Dry-brush. Mostly for adults, another way to toothbrush longer is to initially brush without the mint-flavored toothpaste for a minute and then brush with toothpaste for another minute. The strong mint flavor gives us the feeling that our mouth is clean when in fact it could still use more brush strokes. Brushing our tongue helps to eliminate plaque and freshens our breath.

- Start at the back teeth. Generally, most of us are quite attentive and detailed at the beginning of a task (first 5-10 seconds). Then, quickly, we work toward finishing up the task of brushing and "gloss" over the rest. This usually results in a quick 30-second toothbrush routine and we miss the hard-to-reach areas with our brush. Start brushing the back teeth (especially where the tongue and the cheek sit next to our teeth) and move towards the front. Don't forget to brush close to the gumline.

- Brush your teeth in the shower. Under a stream of water is the perfect time to get to the "nitty gritty" of our teeth. Toothbrushing isn't the neatest of tasks and why not include our teeth in the midst of cleaning the rest of our body?

- See your dentist. Sometimes all it takes is a bit of guidance to get motivated and pick up some new techniques along the way.

Recently, in an effort to establish a "dental home" for every child, California has created a new law requiring all kindergarteners or first-graders to have a dental check-up before May 31st of their first year in public school. According to the California Dental Association, although cavities are preventable, they affect more children than any other chronic disease. This is a great effort to focus on children's dental health where early intervention can have life-long benefits. More information about this new Kindergarten requirement can be found on www.cda.org

Dr. Donna Bautista
Beach Cities Dental
675 Camino Del Los Mares, Suite 304
San Clemente, CA 92673 949-496-5001