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Does your child eat gummy vitamins? Although this may be a popular option to get children to take their vitamins, gummy vitamins aren't the best option for your child's teeth! Even though the vitamins have all the nutrients to keep your child's body healthy, it is unfortunately really sticky. So what does that mean for our teeth?

When something is really sticky, it sticks super well to your child's teeth, especially the teeth in the back. These teeth are already really hard to brush, so the gummies will stay stuck to your child's teeth for a long time. This increases the chance of getting cavities! The bacteria in your child's mouth feed on any food subtances left on the teeth. They then produce acid that starts to break down your child's teeth resulting in a hole - this is a cavity!

So if gummy vitamins are not a great option for teeth, what are some alternative options? We highly recommend chewable tablet vitamins for your children if they are unable to swallow pills. Chewable tablets do not stay stuck to teeth like gummy vitamins. Another way for your child to get their vitamins is to eat healthy well-balanced meals packed full of nutritious fruits and vegetables!

Let's work together to keep your child's smiles healthy!

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!