GOOD DENTAL HEALTH IS CHILD’S PLAY!
Good diet plays a huge part in the oral health of your children. As school starts again, Michele King from Portstewart Family Dental has some ideas for meals and snacks that are tasty and healthy.
Your child’s nutrition is key to both their whole-body health and their oral health. In the current times, the health of our families is constantly on our minds. While it’s diffi cult to make sure they are eating the foods that are best for them when they are away from you, it’s not impossible to do so. We have put together some quick, healthy meal ideas and easy options for healthy snacks that will allow you to play a strong role in their daily health and nutrition, as well as remind them how much you love them every time they take a bite.
BREAKFAST ON THE GO!
Mornings can feel rushed when kids head back to school. Getting yourself up and ready for the day before 9am is hard enough — add a child or two to the routine and providing a healthy breakfast might seem impossible. It’s not! The following are some tips that will help the whole family get the day started off right:
• Ditch the sugary cereals and doughnuts. Eggs make for a great option and are an excellent source of vitamin D, which is needed to absorb calcium for strong bones. If you don’t have time to cook them in the morning, boil some the night before for breakfast on the go.
• Pair breakfast with milk to add calcium to your child’s diet.
• Yoghurt is a great grab-and-go meal that will help strengthen and fortify your child’s teeth. It contains phosphates that help with remineralization. Just be careful of sugar levels in some yoghurts advertised for children, better to mix up your own plain yoghurt with fruits and berries.
• Make sure your children end their morning meal with a firm, crunchy fruit, like an apple. They remove plaque from teeth and increase saliva fl ow, keeping teeth clean and shiny.
• Best practice is to get the kids to brush their teeth before breakfast and then mouthwash afterwards. This way they are not brushing any softened enamel after breakfast and the fluoride in the mouthwash helps to harden up the enamel again.
LUNCH FILLED WITH LOVE
Preparing lunch for your kids doesn’t have to be time consuming or done in a rush. A lot of prep work can be done in advance. Bento-style meals are more popular than ever and are made by fi lling a lunch container with teeth-healthy foods like cheese, meats, fruits, and vegetables, which you can cut and chop ahead of time. You can make lunches fun by cutting crisp fruits and calcium-fi lled cheese into fun shapes with cookie cutters. Children are drawn to bright colours, so include a rainbow of fruits, veggies, meats, and cheeses. Variety will keep lunches interesting and ensure that your child is getting all of the vitamins and minerals they need to stay strong, healthy, and smiling.
SNACK ON!
Kids like snacks — there’s no way around it. Three healthy meals a day is a thing of the past, which isn’t necessarily bad, but it does pose an extra challenge for parents trying to keep their littles fed well. Your kids want crisps and cookies and all of those expensive, pre-packaged treats they see on TV, which lead to tooth decay and other health problems if eaten regularly. If you are struggling to fi nd healthy snacks that will satisfy your child’s snack tooth, consider some of the following:
Fill up a fruit bowl with melon, pears, oranges, and pineapple. These sweet and colourful treats will tame kids’ craving for sweets.
Make a veggie tray with carrots, celery, cucumbers, broccoli, and a little ranch dressing for dip. The crisp veggies will help clean you children’s teeth, and all of the vitamins and minerals will fortify their pearly whites.
Unsalted whole-grain pretzels are the perfect alternatives to greasy crisps. Mix in some low-salt nuts and sunfl ower or pumpkin seeds to add some extra protein.
As we mentioned earlier, cheese is a great teeth-healthy snack. Buy easy-to-grab packages of string cheese, or cube up some cheddar.
Remember that sugary beverages can also cause tooth decay. Water and unsweetened milk are the best tooth-healthy options. Too boring? Make them fun by finding colourful or unique water bottles to put them in. Let your child pick one they will be proud to show off in the lunchroom or with friends. You can also sweeten water naturally with cucumber or berries, which are both tasty and tooth friendly.
From all at Portstewart Family Dental we wish all the kids a healthy and happy start back to school.
THE FUTURE OF DENTISTRY
from Local Women Magazine april 2021At Portstewart Family Dental the team are fully trained in the use of lasers, which can be used for pain free treatment in all aspects of dentistry.
The use of lasers in dentistry may sound a bit like science fiction, but it’s actually scientific fact! Laser technology was first applied to dentistry in the early 1960s and has been gaining popularity ever since.
The best part of about dental lasers is that they don’t just have one application: lasers can be used in many aspects of dentistry, from diagnosis to treatment.
BENEFITS OF LASER DENTISTRY
You may now be able to have your dental procedure performed with a dental laser.
Here are more reasons why you may want to consider this procedure before you visit your dentist:
Less bleeding
Reduced pain
Faster healing period
Less damage to the surrounding tissue
Reduced chance of infection
LASERS CAN HELP RE-SHAPE YOUR GUMS
Gum reshaping or contouring (also called a gum lift) may be recommended for either medical or cosmetic reasons. One of the biggest blessings of lasers in dentistry is that they can replace scalpels. Instead of making cuts in the gums, dentists can use highly precise lasers to dissolve gum tissue instead.
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Because it cauterizes instead of cuts, gum shaping and removal with lasers can be more comfortable, reduce bleeding and speed up recovery time. Whether the treatment is to help exposure a partially erupted wisdom tooth which keeps getting infected or to reshape a piece of gum around a front tooth to make it more aesthetically pleasing, the laser makes this easy for both the patient and the dentist.
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LASERS CAN HELP TREAT GUM DISEASE
One of the symptoms of gum disease (a.k.a. periodontitis) is the formation of deep pockets between your teeth and gums. One of the treatments for chronic gum disease is scaling and root planing, where these pockets are cleaned and the root is smoothed out so your gums can re-adhere to them.
The addition of lasers to this process has been shown in studies to help gums re-attach to the tooth.
LASERS CAN HELP RELIEVE PAIN
The Epic line of diode lasers from BIOLASE provide a therapeutic and non-invasive way to treat pain in as little as ten minutes. Using a special handpiece attachment, our laser transforms from an award-winning surgical and whitening device to a fully capable solution for reducing and managing oral and maxillofacial pain, such as from grinding (bruxism) and clenching.
LASERS CAN BE USED TO TREAT TONGUE TIE AND HIGH FRENAL ATTACHMENTS
Removing muscle attachments that restrict tongue or lip movement. The surgery is less painful than when a scalpel is used, with less bleeding and faster healing. A high frenal attachment can lead to a gap in-between the two front teeth. When this is removed, the gap between these teeth can be closed using braces.
Lasers Can Be Used to Accelerate Tooth Whitening Procedures
Our laser enables us to perform tooth whitening procedures in under an hour.
Lasers Can be Used For Reducing The Discomfort From Cold Sores And Cankers. Cold sores can sometimes be very painful and unsightly. Although it is not possible to completely remove the virus that causes cold sores as it hides in the nerve ganglion, it is possible to reduce the pain and indeed the life span of a cold sore using the healing properties of our laser. The lesion also often heals with less scarring.
ARE DENTAL LASERS SAFE?
Before any dentist or hygienist can use a laser it is required that they undergo specifi c laser training. At Portstewart Family Dental both myself, Peter King and Tracey Watley our hygienist have completed all the necessary training, to ensure your treatment is completed to the highest safety standards and to obtain the optimal results. Lastly, wearing a pair of special glasses during the operation will give you that extra protection!
Overall, dental lasers offer more comfort, quicker healing and added effectiveness to most dental procedures.
Talk to your dentist to learn more about dental laser treatment.
Michele x