If you’ve ever been to our office, you’ve probably heard us talk about Complete Health Dentistry before. It’s all about helping you reduce your risk for systemic disease. But here’s something important you may not have thought about–the best time to start Complete Health Dentistry is when you’re a kid!
It’s never too late to achieve a healthy mouth, but helping kids get off to a great start with their oral hygiene will help set them up for a lifetime of health and wellness. Let’s talk about how your dentist can help start your kids on the path to health and one of our favorite ways to help kids address the proper development of their mouth AND sleep-disordered breathing. (Spoiler alert: it’s called HealthyStart!)
Understanding Complete Health Dentistry
So, first things first – what’s this Complete Health Dentistry all about? Traditional dentistry mainly deals with fixing oral problems. But Complete Health Dentistry takes it further.
The Complete Health Dentistry approach sees oral health as a window into your overall well-being. It’s like a secret passage to a healthier you. It recognizes that stuff in your mouth can affect your whole body like gum disease getting cozy with heart disease and diabetes. Complete Health Dentistry boosts both your oral health and your overall well-being.
By paying attention to your child’s complete health now, we can help them avoid systemic diseases like:
- Cancer
- Heart disease
- Diabetes
- Migraines
- Jaw pain
- Chronic congestion
- Stroke
- Blood clots
- Dementia/Alzheimer’s disease
- Rheumatoid arthritisa
- Tinnitus
And more!
How Fulbright Dental Can Help
There’s lots of ways to help prevent chronic disease down the road:
Early Action: Complete Health Dentistry focuses on catching oral health problems early, before they become big problems. This approach is helpful at preventing long-term issues from developing. That’s why we’ve developed our Healthy Mouth Baseline–to allow parents to assess their child’s health and help us get started working toward their complete health.
Myofunctional Therapy: This therapy is all about teaching kids how to use their mouths properly. It helps children to correct bad habits like tongue placement and breathing patterns, which can affect oral development and overall health. We have a myofunctional therapist in our team that can help address your child’s needs and help them chew, swallow, and breathe better.
Orthodontic Guidance: We love the HealthyStart oral appliance! It helps guide kids’ teeth as they emerge, ensuring your kids grow up with straight teeth and proper facial growth, helping them avoid braces and other drastic orthodontic procedures entirely. In fact, it’s helped more than 4 million kids utilize their growth and development to guide teeth into correct alignment in a natural and non-invasive way.
Sleep Health: Did you know that sleep issues can affect your child’s health now and in the future? Sleep disordered breathing, which includes issues like sleep apnea, can be the root cause of bedwetting, hyperactivity, problems with focus, aggression, night terrors, chronic allergies, headaches, and struggles in school. This stems from an underdeveloped airway. We recommend the HealthyStart oral appliance to help naturally widen your child’s airway and resolve their sleep issues.
Get a HealthyStart with Fulbright Cosmetic & Reconstructive Dentistry
As you noticed, two important childhood issues–tooth alignment and sleep disordered breathing–can be solved with HealthyStart. We love the HealthyStart program for just that reason! Using an easy-to-wear overnight appliance, your child can achieve straighter teeth and overcome a variety of conditions, including:
- Overbite
- Overjet
- Open bite
- Crowded teeth
- Underdeveloped jaw
And even better–because you are treating these issues as your children grow the results are “locked in” to their development, unlike the results of teenage orthodontia. Maybe you’ve experienced this yourself–if you stopped wearing your retainer after braces, your teeth went right back to how they started. HealthyStart prevents this by changing the development of the mouth itself.
In addition to a beautiful smile, the HealthyStart also naturally widens your kiddo’s airway, giving them a stronger, wider oral setup for their entire life. By treating sleep disordered breathing now, you can help your kids avoid the dangerous co-occurring conditions like:
- Diabetes
- Hypertension
- Obesity
- Depression
- COPD
- Stroke
All in all, caring for oral health in childhood doesn’t just lead to healthier smiles but also a better quality of life!
At Fulbright Cosmetic & Reconstructive Dentistry in Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach, CA, we understand that oral health affects overall well-being. Embracing this approach can lead to healthier, happier lives for everyone.
Let’s work together to support the best oral and overall health outcomes for your children and your whole family. Schedule a HealthyStart consultation with us at Fulbright Cosmetic & Reconstructive Dentistry to get started.