Why Breastfeeding Is So Important

Breastfeeding is one of the most natural and beneficial acts a mother can do for her child. From antibodies which protect an infant starting at birth, to the exclusive nutrients in mother’s milk which have been shown to prevent a number of childhood diseases, the benefits are incalculable. In fact it can arguably be said that there is no other single action by which a mother can so impact the present and future health of her baby.

Nevertheless, breastfeeding is often thought of in today’s society as unnecessary. Young mothers are mistakenly led to believe that formula milk is an adequate replacement for breast milk. But nothing can duplicate the properties of breast milk, no matter how many vitamins, minerals and supplements are added to what is basically a chemical formulation.

Breast milk remains the one and only natural, complete and complex nutrition for human infants. It is nature’s formula for ensuring the health and quality of life for infants, as well as on through childhood to adult life.

Reason Breast Feeding Mother’s Milk Is Better Than Formula

For most babies, especially premature babies, breast milk is much easier to digest than formula. The proteins in formula are made from cow’s milk and it takes time for babies’ stomachs to adjust to digesting them. Not only that, but the cells, hormones, and antibodies in breast milk protect babies from illness. This protection is unique, as formula can never match the chemical makeup of human breast milk.

And then there is the emotional advantage to breast feeding. Breastfeeding promotes a special bond between mother and child that only a mother can provide, which includes physiological and psychological benefits for both mother and child. It creates emotional bonds; physical contact can help them feel more secure, warm, and comforted. Mothers can benefit from this closeness, as well, as breastfeeding requires that a mother take some quiet relaxed time to bond.

Breastfeeding Difficulties

Occasionally there are difficulties with a baby breastfeeding. One such common problem is infants who have tongue-tie, also known as ankyloglossia. Their predicament is that they are not able to move their tongue freely to be able to breastfeed effectively, because of the placement of the frenulum, the membrane that connects the base of the tongue to the floor of the mouth. In tongue-tie, the frenulum is attached too tightly to the tongue, anywhere from the base of the tongue to the very tip. Tongue-tie can lead to low milk production problems, since the baby cannot effectively remove milk from the breast. Another painful problem is candidiasis infection of the nipple causing pain.

Tongue Tie and Breastfeeding Problems

Jerusalem dentist Dr. Ari Greenspan is very familiar with the problem, and the solution. Treatment for tongue-tie consists of “clipping” the membrane with surgical scissors or by laser to release the tongue. This procedure is called a frenotomy, a procedure that takes only seconds, after which the baby can usually be put to the breast within a minute or two, where he should be easily soothed. Should your baby have any problems breastfeeding, Dr. Greenspan will diagnose the problem and repair it, and bring relief and satisfaction to you and your baby.

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see this article from mishpacha magazine for information  on child & speech development – speech development

Speech development is something that concerns every parent. We often hear our children lisping or making other speech mistakes. There are many reasons why this can take place. In Israel, many times parents will give their child a non anatomical pacifier which can cause the speech  to be altered. The bones of the face actually grow in a distorted manner as a result of this.

Oral habits like thumb sucking and finger nail biting can also be a factor in oral and articulation development. The bottom line is try and keep you children from developing these habits in order to prevent such problems.

for more info see: Speech sound development – Jackie Myland Seltzer, Speech-Language Pathologist

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Obstacles for Pregnant Women Seeking Dental Care

By CATHERINE SAINT LOUIS

In pain because of infected teeth, Luatany Caseres, 34, then a factory worker in Durham, N.C., was desperate to see a dentist.

At an emergency dental clinic that treats the uninsured, a receptionist told Ms. Caseres that the schedule was full. When she returned a second time in still greater pain, the receptionist told her, “I can’t get you seen.” On her third visit, Ms. Caseres’ swollen cheek bulged as if a lollipop were stuck there. Still, she was told that she would have to wait.

Why? “It was because I was pregnant,” Ms. Caseres said. She was in her second trimester, and the receptionist said she needed a doctor’s note before the office would consider treating her.

Dental treatment during pregnancy

Finally, Ms. Caseres found Dr. George Soung, a fourth-year dental student who was trained in a new prenatal program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. By that time, two premolars had broken to the gums, exposing nerves. Her pain was so acute she was bedridden, taking sleeping pills and painkillers.

Dr. Soung extracted Ms. Caseres’s two abscessed teeth at once, because a far-gone infection could spread to the jaw or even throughout the body. “This wasn’t something that popped up a week ago,” he said. “Nobody would treat her.”

Too many pregnant women like Ms. Caseres are not getting timely dental care, experts say. There are plenty of reasons: Some dentists are reluctant to treat pregnant patients, in no small part because of outdated thinking. OB-GYNs too often fail to check for oral problems and to refer women to dentists. And many women fail to seek out oral care or mistakenly think it’s dangerous, even though pregnancy itself may lead to gum inflammation.

The problem among dentists is decades old. Many “were taught in dental school that you can’t treat a pregnant woman,” said Dr. Renee Samelson, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Albany Medical Center, who was an editor of the first guidelines on oral health in pregnancy, which were published by the New York State Department of Health and advised on two more sets of guidelines. Dentists simply erred on the side of caution, she added: “There was no evidence of harm.”

Today, although dental treatment during pregnancy is considered beneficial, some dentists still hesitate to see pregnant women, because they fear litigation or harm to the fetus, or their knowledge of appropriate care lags behind the current evidence. One 2009 survey of 351 obstetrician gynecologists nationwide found 77 percent reported their patients had been“declined dental services because of pregnancy.”

Dentists fear offering dental treatment during pregnancy

“A lot of dentists still fear treating pregnant women, and think, ‘What happens if I have to do an X-ray?’ or ‘What happens if I give antibiotics or local anesthesia?’” said Dr. Howard Minkoff, the chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn. “None of these are legitimate reasons not to provide appropriate care for women.”

Since 2006, a few state organizations and dental associations have issued practice guidelines declaring that dental care is safe and effective at any stage of pregnancy, including diagnostic X-rays, cavity restorations and root canals.

OB-GYNs should check for bleeding gums or oral infection and refer a patient to a dentist if her last visit was longer than six months ago, according to the first national consensus statement on dental care during pregnancy, published in September by the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center at Georgetown University.

The statement advised dentists to provide emergency care in any trimester. OB-GYNs can be consulted, as necessary, if a pregnant patient is diabetic or hypertensive, or if general anesthesia is required.

Dr. Sally Cram, a periodontist in Washington, and a spokeswoman for the American Dental Association, said dentists she knows provide complete care. She added, “In the last 10 to 15 years, a lot of dentists have promoted the importance of pregnant women having regular cleanings.”

Delaying oral care can have serious consequences. Gingivitis, or gum inflammation, affects 60 to 75 percent of pregnant women, and left unchecked, it can become periodontal disease. Untreated periodontal disease can lead to tooth loss. And a mother with active tooth decay can spread cavity-causing bacteria to her child through saliva, perpetuating poor oral health.

Pregnant women with dental pain also may self-medicate inappropriately. In a March 2001 letter to the New York State Department of Health, a doctor described a patient who was unable to get urgent care for her abscessed teeth in upstate New York. She took such excessive doses of Tylenol that she developed acute liver failure, and the fetus died. That prompted the drafting of new state guidelines.

Still, some OB-GYNs do not address oral health during visits with pregnant women, an oversight that angers some dentists. “If you take your dog to the vet, the first thing they do is look in their mouth,” said Dr. Nancy Newhouse, a periodontist in Independence, Mo., and the president of the American Academy of Periodontology.

Many pregnant women simply don’t seek dental care, perhaps out of misplaced fear or neglect. Some states offer dental Medicaid benefits to low-income expectant mothers, for example, but utilization rates are low.Only 28 percent of eligible women seek and receive services in Oklahoma. In New York, 41 percent of pregnant women on Medicaid visited dentists in 2010, up from 30 percent in 2006.

Such a multifactorial problem requires a coordinated effort between OB-GYNs and dentists to reach mothers-to-be, said Dr. Stefanie Russell, a dentist and an epidemiologist at New York University. But for women with low-risk pregnancies, she said, “things will change when women realize dental care is their right during pregnancy.”

Deborah Acosta contributed reporting.

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All too often we are not careful about how we take care of our teeth. There are many ways which we can cause broken teeth and fractured teeth. Being careful of some basic behaviors can save us lots of pain and suffering later on.

Bad Habits

Many people have developed oral habits that can cause broken teeth. For example, chewing on hard items like pencils do great damage. Since these behaviors are unconscious much of the time, they go on for extended periods of time. Biting like this will cause micro fractures that can damage the enamel making it more susceptible to breaking. Some people eat things like sun flour seed and always break them with one of their front teeth. Over the years that can cause an unsightly groove in the tooth.

Another prime source of broken teeth is chewing on ice. While it might be fun, the hard ice itself can break a tooth. But less well known is the fact that the freezing ice causes an internal stress in the tooth itself which can weaken the tooth by creating microscopic internal fractures.

Sports And Tooth Danger

Of course contact Sports are a constant concern for teeth. We all know of the hockey players missing their front tooth, but damage can happen when you least expect it. So many times as the summer arrives, I have patients who dived off the diving board into the pool  and did not realize that they were headed right for the floor of the pool. They hit their tooth on the floor and it breaks. Bike riding is another prime source for tooth damage. See this picture of a child who broke their front teeth. There is a characteristic breakage pattern of an angled break. One way to prevent these concerns is to have a child wear a sports guard when they are involved in an activity that can hurt their teeth.

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Bad breath in kids is something quite common, even as young as the age of two. If the smell is coming from the mouth and not the nose, then chances are it is due to oral issues.

Bad breath in kids is not so different from bad breath in adults. The source for this most of the time is the lack of oral hygiene leading to a proliferation of bacteria. The bacteria causes a release of sulphur gasses that cause bad breath in children. In addition, young children tend to drink a lot of milk, and the milk breaks down into sugars such as fructose and lactose, which leads to a quick build-up of bacteria.  Also take into account that often children fall asleep before brushing their teeth, adding to the bacterial load which causes bad breath in kids.

First be sure that the child is brushing his teeth properly. If there is still bad breath it probably came from the back of the tongue, you can check this by gently removing the yellowish layer from the back of the tongue towards the throat and smelling. Also children’s bad breath can be due to drip from their nose that builds up on the tongue and rots there. This is a process that occurs in children and even in adults.

It is recommended that a doctor preforms the above test, so he will be able to recommend the appropriate specialist if the smell does not go away. If the smell is coming from the nose you should see an ENT specialist, who will among other things look for the presence of foreign bodies, such as pieces of toilet paper, corn, seeds, sponge, etc, that young children tend to sometimes push into their nose.

As in adults, bad breath is often a matter of cleaning and maintaining low levels of bacteria in the mouth. If you do this process with children as well there should not be bad breath.

For more information on bad breath in kids, please call and we will gladly help you.

Dr. Ari Greenspan

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