General Health

E-Cigarettes: An Update On Safety and New Warnings In the winter of 2014, we published an article about e-cigarettes – exploring the risks to users’ oral health.  In case you missed it, you can read it here. At the time we wrote the article, there were several studies underway to determine the safety of e-cigarettes. […]

Is there BPA in my child’s fillings? BPA (Bisphenol A) has been in the news quite often recently.  Large doses used in experiments showed it had an adverse effect on brain and sexual development.  Environmental groups asked the FDA to ban BPA from use in the United States.  It has been blamed for a variety […]

How safe is general anesthesia in dental procedures for children? When three-year-old Finley Boyle’s parents took her to the dentist last December, they expected to be returning home with her later that day – a bit tired and in some discomfort perhaps, but alive and well. According to court documents, Finley was undergoing four root […]

You may have seen the ingredient Xylitol in sugarless gum, candy, or other foods your child likes to eat. It is even an ingredient in some toothpastes and mouthwashes. How much do you know about it?  Are artificial sweeteners safe for my child?  Xylitol is a polyalcohol (or sugar alcohol), which adds sweetness to many […]

Babies nearly all love their pacifier or their thumb – or both!  The sucking reflex itself is instinctive.  Babies would quickly starve and perish if they didn’t possess this strong instinct. Will thumb sucking affect my child’s teeth? Via ultrasound, babies have been observed sucking their thumb at about 28 weeks in utero.  Thumb sucking is […]

Spit out that pacifier! The drawbacks of pacifiers for your child are numerous. Little humans have a very strong sucking reflex.  It is one of Nature’s ways of keeping them alive.  Most babies and toddlers use a pacifier at some point in their development. These are considered a ‘transitional object’, and can help little ones […]

Are over-the-counter teething remedies safe? Your baby is teething.  She is cranky, drooling, and may not sleep as well.  Some will pull on their ears or rub their cheeks.  How can you help your baby feel better? Are over-the-counter teething remedies safe to use? Teething remedies are sold over the counter.  That means they are […]