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Happy Holidays!! In this season of sweet treats, we wanted to give you some teeth-friendly treat options for the whole family! These super easy recipes can be made into a fun activity to do with your little one.

Reindeer Celery

1. Cut celery sticks into child-size pieces
2. Fill with your child's favorite nut butter (or alternative butter if your child is allergic to nuts)
3. Place pretzels for the antlers
4. Add googly eyes and red M&M to finish the face!

Grinch Fruit Kabobs

1. Skewer one green grape, then one slice of banana, then one whole strawberry, then one tiny marshmellow onto a wooden skewer!

All of these recipes are super simple to do! You can customize the ingredients to your child's taste as well.

We wish you and your family the happiest of holidays!

Every parent has fears about their child's first dental visit and that is completely understandable! Our family at East Valley Children's Dentistry want to do everything we can to make sure your child's visit is as comfortable as possible. Our goal is to make sure our patients have happy experiences at the dentist and want to come back to see us again!

Here are a few of our recommendations on how to prepare your child for their first dental visit:

1. Read books together with your child on what to expect at the dentist. Books such as "Daniel Goes to the Dentist" and "The Berenstain Bears Visit The Dentist" are among many great books to read with your child.
2. Watch child-friendly videos together with your child on what dental visits look like. A great video series called "The Feelingwells" from Sesame Street is available to watch for free on YouTube!
3. Speak about dental experiences with positive words! Avoid the scary words such as "needles" and "shots" - we want your child to associate the dentist with happy experiences! Pediatric dentists are the experts in substituting scary words with child friendly words to make the dental office a less scary place.

We want parents to feel prepared as well! Our office provides a complimentary parent educational toolkit that answers the most frequently asked questions. Please contact our office to receive your copy!

Our website also provides a description on what to expect during your child's first dental appointment at our office. We want you to feel as prepared and comfortable as possible. We look forward to having you join our East Valley Smile family!

Parents often wonder whether or not use of a pacifier is good or not - "will this affect my child's teeth?", "will this affect their jaws?" Early use of pacifiers is considered normal! Only prolonged use of the pacifier can cause changes in the position of your child's teeth and jaws. How often your child has the pacifier in their mouth, how long they keep it in their mouth each time, and how hard they are sucking on the pacifier are all factors that can contribute to how your child's teeth may be affected.

At ages younger than 3, pacifier use is considered normal because this is part of your child's coping mechanism and comfort system. As your child gets older, they gain more skills in order to help comfort themselves without the need of a pacifier. Our goal is to wean your child's pacifier habit by age 4 years in order to prevent any changes in your child's teeth. There is a possibility that changes may happen earlier than age 4 years, and your child's dentist will look out for these changes at each dental visit.

We all know how hard it is to break a habit, so here are some things your child's dentist may recommend to help with stopping your child's pacifier habit:

1. Sticker charts - This is a reward system where your child can get a sticker for every day that they do not use their pacifier. After a certain amount of stickers collected, your child can receive a prize (that you decide together as parent and child)!
2. Alternative comfort object - Since your child is using their pacifier for comfort, you can help them choose another object that may bring them comfort that they can trade out their pacifier for. They may choose a teddy bear or a toy that they can have with them whenever they need the comfort!
3. Pacifier fairy - For children who are older, you can tell them about the pacifier fairy. The pacifier fairy collects pacifiers when children are ready to give it up - these pacifiers will be collected to be given to children who are in need of pacifiers. (Of course - this is all make-believe and you as the parent will be hiding away the pacifier, but this will allow your child to feel happy about giving their pacifier away for someone else!).

The biggest thing we must remember when trying to stop habits is that we don't want to punish your child for the habit. We want to encourage them to stop the habit on their own, not give them any consequences for its use. The stopping of a habit relies on your child's want and ability to stop the habit on their own!

Your child's dentist will work with you as a team to make sure pacifier use doesn't affect your child's teeth to give them their best smiles!

Parents usually wonder how often they need to take their child to the dentist. "Since they are just baby teeth that are going to fall out, we don't have to bring our child to the dentist very often right?" This isn't necessarily true! The health of baby teeth is really important to ensure that your child's adult teeth will also come in nice and healthy!

At minimum, it is recommended that your child sees a dentist at least twice a year. Remember the rules of two's - brush 2 times a day, 2 minutes each time, and visit the dentist 2 times a year!

But sometimes, your child's dentist may recommend your child to be seen more than twice a year, such as every 3 months instead of every 6 months. Here's a few reasons why:

1. Your child may have some teeth that are starting to have cavities. These teeth do not have cavities that require any fillings yet, so your child's dentist wants to see your child more often to closely monitor those teeth! At these visits, your child's dentist can go over different ways to keep the teeth clean and to catch things that may be causing your child's cavities to get worse!
2. Your child may have a habit that affects your child's teeth, such as thumb sucking. Prolonged thumb sucking after the age of 4 years old can cause changes in your child's jaw and how your child's teeth grow in. By seeing your child's dentist more often, they can more easily track the changes that are happening and work together with you to slowly guide your child towards stopping their habit.
3. Some children come to the dentist very anxious due to past dental experiences or the child may have special health care needs that prevents them from feeling safe in new environments. Having visits that are more often and less far apart can allow your child to feel more comfortable with the dental environment and turn it into a safe space!

Your child's dentist and dental team are always here to answer all of your questions and provide the best care for your child!