 Hello everybody, Andrea here with Dental L Mobile Hygiene. I want to talk to you guys about children's decay and what you can do to prevent decay in children. And it's not just as simple as brushing and flossing and not eating sugar because we all know that doesn't always happen. But I want to talk to you guys about how to prevent it, but then also what to do if your child does have a little cavity. How to prevent it from getting worse and how to avoid a big dental appointment that will traumatize your child in having to get a bunch of feelings done or having them be put to sleep to get work done. So this goes for any child, whether they're one years old, two years old, eight years old. So this will apply to everybody. So first I want to share my screen here. I have a couple images that I want to show you guys, okay? So I see a lot of kids in my practice. I'm a mobile dental hygienist and for the most part parents come to me and they say, my child is terrified to go to the dentist. I do think they have cavities. I feel they will do better in their own home having somebody just come have a look. So please come and let me tell you and show you different children's decay that I see. So I'm going to actually show you guys the last picture first. So can everybody see this, okay? I don't know how it's showing up on camera, but this is a very, I guess, not an extreme case. But if you guys can see, so I'm going to point it out to you. Do you guys see this very little but moderate yellow spot here? So in children of a certain age, let's say age three, four, five, they're more prone to getting cavities at their front teeth. I think it's because that's kind of the teeth that they use first to eat, drink, everything. And when you're brushing, when you're helping your child brush, you really try to focus on the back teeth, which is good. So don't stop doing that. I look at the front teeth first, because this is where a cavity can happen the quickest and spread the quickest. So this one is very simple. It's at the front surface of the tooth. I kind of suspect there might be something happening on these ones as well, because if you look really closely, whether you can see it or not, there's kind of yellowing areas there. So when I see a child like this, you might say, well, what do you do with them? So what I do is I can actually apply an anti-cavity liquid. It's called silver-diamine fluoride. Feel free to look that up. It is a liquid that will kill the cavity right away, so on the spot. It kills the cavity right away. And that's it. That liquid will help to prevent it from getting worse, but it needs to be reapplied. So if I'm seeing a patient once every six months, that's not good enough. For this child, I would put it on this spot here, because that's an obvious hole. It's a cavitated lesion, we call it. And I would want to come back a couple weeks later to reapply, depending on certain things. If there's a lot of plaque in the mouth, a lot of tartar, the parents admit to me that they can't brush well, then I'm going to come back in a couple weeks. Let's say I just see that one spot, that's okay. I might say I'm going to come back in a month. It could be in three months. It really depends on the mouth, okay? So I can't really tell you without seeing you. I do need to look at your child. But applying that anti-cavity liquid for two seconds is all it is. You might be wondering on the price, it is about $10. Not a lot of insurance companies do cover it, but $10 is completely worth it, you guys. Trust me, it is worth it. Because what happens if we don't do anything and I tell you, we're going to wait for that spot, I'll keep an eye on it. Let's see what happens. Well, guess what? It's going to get worse. I'm going to see your child in six months. It's going to be a bigger cavity. That liquid is not going to work. That anti-cavity liquid I was telling you about is not going to work. I would suggest to you, okay, you're going to have to go to the dentist now. They're going to have to drill out that cavity because it's extended past a certain layer of the enamel and do a filling. But let's say this child is three years old. Well, that's going to be traumatizing for them. So the dentist is going to want to put them to sleep, but is it really necessary? If we had just caught that early enough, you wouldn't have to worry about it. So this is a very light example here. Before I forget to mention the silver diamine fluoride that I'm talking to you guys about, it does stain that little pitted area black. So it doesn't look the nicest. That is a con about silver diamine fluoride. So in that case, when I see parents like this, or I'm sorry, when I see kids like this and I kind of say to them, I don't necessarily want to put silver diamine fluoride on this tooth, because let's say they're three years old, they might have those teeth for another two years, which I'll show you guys in another slide, another video, but I have the eruption patterns here. So eruption is when the tooth comes through and then shedding is when you lose that tooth. OK, so depending on your child, they might have that tooth for a while. I can't really tell how old this patient is. I would have to see them in person. But if they're going to have this tooth for, let's say, two more months, why go to the dentist to get it fixed? Why not have me apply that silver diamine fluoride? Which, yes, it turns the area black, but they'll have that tooth for two months. It has cost you ten dollars. That's it. They will lose the tooth. You don't have to worry. OK. If you leave it alone, though, it could get bigger and cause pain. So we never like to do that. But why you don't always necessarily have to go to the dentist to get the cavity fixed in children. It really does depend. So please take that lightly. I need to see your child first. I don't want you guys to say, oh, we never have to go to the dentist again because Andrea said, no, please, that's not the case. But you guys do have options. It depends on when that child is going to lose that tooth. It depends on how big the cavity is. And only a dental professional can really take a look to check that. And it depends on oral hygiene habits at home. So I'm going to stop sharing the screen for a second. So oral hygiene habits, are they using the right toothpaste? Maybe I'll get them on a mouthwash. Maybe I'll come in every three months to apply something called a fluoride varnish to protect the teeth from that cavity getting bigger and from getting further decay. So there's many different things we can do that do not involve putting your child to sleep. That's something I feel very strongly about. We all have our own opinions, but I do try to avoid that at all costs. Unless, of course, they need it. If I come to your home and your child has a big cavity in every single tooth, they have holes in their teeth, they're black and their age four. I might suggest I will probably suggest sedation is the best case. But in 99 percent of patients I see sedation isn't needed. Full disclosure, I am a dental hygiene specialist. I have a restorative dental hygienist, so I do have additional skills. I'm not a dentist. A dentist is still considered higher up there if we're going to go there. But we work together. I work with your dentist to decide what the best course of treatment is. A lot of dentists don't think that a mobile dental hygienist can go to your home to apply that protective coating for your child's teeth. They can keep an eye on your child to make sure that that cavity doesn't get worse. How a dentist and a dental office typically think is, well, we're not going to see this patient for six months, probably. So we have to do something so those cavities don't get bigger. So they're not wrong, but they don't think of a mobile hygienist like me that can really monitor things and they don't necessarily need sedation. So I hope this helps you guys. I'm developing a whole series on Children's Dental because I get so many questions and a lot of parents have no idea. There are certain toothpaste products, silver diming fluoride out there that does exist to really prevent those cavities. So stay tuned. Thank you for watching. Please comment on the video if you have any questions. Please keep in mind, I know I keep saying it, but I have to. I cannot diagnose. I need to see your child in person. That's the legal, ethical way of doing things. So take my words and advice with a grain of salt. But I hope this does help to educate you and I'm more than happy to see your child to figure out what is going on and to prevent further decay or decay at all. That's what we want because dental decay is a disease. It's a disease of the mouth that is not necessary. So thank you guys. It's so nice to talk to you as always. I'll talk to you guys in the next video.