Episode 3 Emily Davies on All Things Baby Teeth & Dummies

Chloe Sacco  0:01  
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Hi, everybody, and welcome to Episode Three. I'm here with Emily Davies, who is a dental hygienist you would have seen on the same say gold story am and the Chloe seco dot CMC, we did a question. It's about what questions you'd like to ask Emily. And we had a heap of different questions. We've sort of zoned in on two main parts. And a lot of them were about taking dummies slash thumb sucking, or it was about brushing teeth, how to get your kids to brush your teeth. So anyway, she will go through a lot of those questions for you. I'll get her to introduce herself and her qualifications. And then we'll just run through the questions. Emily, hello. So first of all, Emily and I actually went to school together. So we've been friends for quite some time. And she's the best dental hygienist ever. She's very, very gentle. I am all for no needles, and she numbs me right up. Baby, yes, I am a baby. She's all for the numbing. So if you need a good dental hygienist and great with canes, do you know kaseya says to me now, we're gonna go see Dr. Emily soon to get our teeth clean. So she's very excited for that we're going in May for the first time for her. So that's going to be fun.

Emily Davies  2:02  
Yeah, she gives me over qualification because I'm not a doctor. I like them. I'll take it. So like you said, I guess I'm Emily. I have to correct you, too. I'm an oral health therapist. That's okay. So the dental hygienist and an oral health anesthetic dental therapists in one. So basically, hygiene wise, it's a lot of caring about adult teeth and gums. That's why I used to come and see me the therapy was we really focus on kids. So that's why I'm coming in to talk to you about kids today, because it's actually what I'm most passionate about. So I'm excited to answer some questions that your followers had.

Chloe Sacco  2:39  
Yes. All right. So we will go straight into it all. The first one we'll start talking about is the teeth brushing and the tips and how to get kids to actually brush their teeth. Thankfully, it hasn't been a big problem in my house, Cassie actually enjoys brushing your teeth, which is weird for a three year old, I think it's good.

If you have a child that doesn't brush their teeth, or doesn't like brushing their teeth, what are your tips?

Emily Davies  3:13  
Well, I'd like to say before, if for the people listening who maybe don't have a younger child, yeah, they maybe have like an infant or they're pregnant or whatever. The sooner the better, you introduce things in the mouth. So even when the little ones if they don't have teeth, that's when you should start cleaning their little gums, getting them used to having maybe fingers in their mouth, different textures. You know, those infant toothbrushes that are really really soft, just let them play with the to it. You can use your finger, you can use a cloth on your finger, just clean the gums and that way you can get used to it. And then as they get older, then you sort of make it an actual habit at certain times. So it depends what age they're at. But if you start early, you're gonna have better chances later. I love that. Yeah. So but I mean, you know, it changes with toddlers, they get their own little independent personalities. So when you have battles, I think it's just good to try and make it as fun as you can. A lot of role modeling, like you kids, do you do it, they will do it. Yeah. And yeah, just try make it fun. There are so many videos and songs about brushing out there, if they are into something, whether it's the wiggles or Sesame Street or to Blippi or to Ryan now, I made a lot of videos on brushing teeth.

There'll be something fun and you can pop it on at the same time. Just trying to have fun with it. I think the worst thing you can do is try and pin them down and do it. Yeah, I'm really against that. Yeah, don't make it. Yeah, don't make it a bad thing. If they're not gonna do it. Just let it go for a little bit. Yeah, do work with what you can control.

Chloe Sacco  4:52  
Yep. And what age should they start going to the dentist? I mean, we're starting at three. Is that a good time?

Emily Davies  5:00  
Um, I mean, it's hard because I've seen Cassia and I would have told you if I saw anything, but I mean, bring them with you, even when they're an infant is good just so you can have a chat to the clinician about, you know, caring for little baby teeth before they come in if their first dental appointment, ideally two to three, two and a half, three, because that's when they can actually comprehend a little bit what's happening. But it's not going to be too much work. It's just a check in counting their teeth, and it's more chat with the parents and their carers.

Chloe Sacco  5:27  
I think it'd be good to see the parent in the seat as well.

Emily Davies  5:31  
Yeah, yeah. So that's why like, if you've got kids that keep coming in with you, even if they're in the pram getting used to that environment, or the smells and sounds that come along with it. Yeah, just desensitizing them to it is really good.

Chloe Sacco  5:44  
Yeah, good. And one of the questions, I think, what did somebody ask about? If you have a special needs?

Emily Davies  5:55  
Yeah, look, it's really, really difficult. I do see a few kids with special needs. But I'm not going to pretend that I'm an expert in it. But I give the same advice, even whether it's special needs or not. If you have a child that doesn't like brushing, just try a lot of different things. When we're brushing, you know, what's the aim? We're trying to keep the teeth clean? Yeah, it doesn't have to be at night before they go to bed. It doesn't have to be first thing in the morning. As long as you're removing that bacteria at some point during the day and their mouse, then you got a better chance of preventing cavities. So just have a play with what they like what they're okay with, especially kids with sensory issues. Do they not want a toothbrush with bristles in their mouth? Are they okay with your finger in their mouth, you can buy those little cute finger puppets. There's a brand called brushes. They're so cute. That's cool. And they're more silicon but they have like a little brush. So you know, it's it's your finger. It's not as weird as something foreign. So it just try different things with toothpaste, depending on their age, you can get some really nice flavored ones now that are safe for kids. So if they really like sweet things, there's plenty of sweet toothpaste out there to sort of entice them into brushing. But yeah, just try a few different things. It is really hard with kids with sensory issues. I would definitely be seeking a pediatric specialist if you're really really struggling.

Chloe Sacco  7:23  
Yeah, that's good advice. I think I was gonna ask you about tooth pace as well because kaseya loves sweet things, but absolutely hates the sweet toothpaste. Oh, really the first time so she she loves the meat one. So I had the first time she had the main one. And then the second time I gave her the sweet toothpaste because I thought she'd liked that better. And then she just brush her teeth for like a week. She refused to have that toothpaste. So I threw the toothpaste x and like I didn't want to traumatize her on not brushing your teeth again, but then want to switch it back to me and she brushed her teeth.

Emily Davies  7:58  
That's fine. If she likes it. That's good. There's a lot of really like, um, do you remember milk tastes?

Chloe Sacco  8:06  
Delicious. Milk teeth.

Emily Davies  8:08  
I'm pretty sure jack and jill have a milkshake flavor, which is very similar to that. So if you're looking for something bland, yeah, but kind of like a little bit sweet. That's a good one. But I would probably look at Tom's of Maine they have like strawberry. I think maybe blueberry and Kohl's and they like especially they would be the definitely chemists. And grants. Australia they're really popular too, with flavors, so just try different flavors. But if she likes men, we keep them in. Do you know I had a cousin who hated mint. And when she was like older, she still hated mint. So she used to brush with like a bicarb soda toothpaste. And if I stayed at her house and forgot my own toothpaste, horrible, that's great.

Chloe Sacco  8:53  
That's weird. Um, did we miss anything on the brushing that we wanted?

Emily Davies  8:58  
I think with our there were a couple of questions about when when you got a little one your nighttime feeding. Like I was saying before, it's about removing the plaque and the bacteria. So if you wipe or clean the teeth before the nighttime feed, that's going to go a long way to preventing cavities. And if you've got a really good sleeper, you can always just sort of lift their lip because milk can sometimes get caught under the top lip. And that's what can sometimes cause cavities. I think I don't know if you've heard of bottle. baby bottle. caries cavities. Yeah. So it's along the front teeth. So when parents see it, they're really freaked out. But if you can wipe under the lip after feeding, then that's really good. But if you don't have a good sleeper, then that's you know, no hope. Yeah. Good luck with that.

Chloe Sacco  9:45  
Yeah, that's no, that's good. I didn't know that. Um, now we so we got our do we want to go on to thumb sucking? Or 

Emily Davies  9:54  
Yeah, look, it's a big thing. Let's, I mean, dummies, there's a little bit more into it. So let's talk about that. socketing Yep, this means

Chloe Sacco  10:02  
yes. While they all bad, yeah, well, they we, we had so many questions on thumb sucking versus dummies, whether one is better than the other, whether which dummies better than the other went to get rid of a dummy than anything else?

Emily Davies  10:23  
I think just why causes issues like what's the problem with them. So, look, thumb suck is a really hard one, because it's so linked to a child's feeling of security as well. So whatever way you're going to go with getting rid of some or dummy, I would just say Take it easy on yourself and your little one, because it's, it's never easy. But the reason I prefer a dummy to a thumb is you can get rid of a dummy, you can't get rid of a thumb. It's constant, they can constantly reach for it, it's always there. So I personally prefer HDMI to a thumb. And the other thing with a thumb is you put more pressure with the thumb and I know if you've watched kids suck their thumb, mine doesn't thank goodness, I've got a daughter, I suppose she mentioned that. She's She's very cute. And he was Audrey, she's never sucked her thumb,

Chloe Sacco  11:13  
she would never be able to suck, it

Emily Davies  11:15  
probably would chop it off. But if you watch her kids suck their thumb, it's a lot of pressure creates a lot of pressure when you're sucking on something pushing it into the mouth. So if you like close your own teeth, the way they made, if you think about trying to get a thumb in there, which way do your teeth have to go to keep that permanently in? It just affects the teeth and it affects the jaw as well. And it's not just a look thing. I know a lot of people worried about like our bukky teeth, but it's not as it's so much function. And it causes so many long term issues, which I could probably talk about for about an hour

Chloe Sacco  11:49  
change the shape of the pellet. Yes, yeah, that's the big one and wouldn't make it. I know I'm making this up. But would it make it higher? Yeah,

Emily Davies  11:56  
if you logically think of it, yeah, we're very. So what that does is if you think of your front teeth, teeth, they all have a function, it's this is why love tastes like beautiful than the people with the function. So their front teeth, if they don't meet together properly, you're not going to be able to cut into food with your teeth. You're not like if you try and bite into an apple, but your top teeth are spread out wide, and your bottom teeth are tilted inwards, you're not gonna be able to take a bite of that Apple really easily. So when you are a thumb sucker for a long time, that's what you cause the front teeth to do, they move away from each other. And they start looking back you with the top ones and tilted in on the bottom. And that alters function and it can alter speech. And they're eating. Yeah, that's

Chloe Sacco  12:42  
a huge. Yeah,

Emily Davies  12:45  
it's a really big thing to do with breathing. I mean, you can just look at the teeth, or you can look at the teeth and mouth related to the whole body. And there's a lot of things I could say about that. Too much to go into. But I've might give you a couple of Instagrams for your followers to have a look into that have a lot more information about it. But it's really interesting.

Chloe Sacco  13:06  
And if we do have thumb suckers, cuz I'm sure we're going to have many thumb suckers. And obviously, we try and get rid of it if we can. And I'm going back to my psychology days and some sort of tasted version. Is that a good idea to stop it?

Emily Davies  13:24  
Yeah, depends depends. Like I said, it depends how gentle or harsh you want to be. Yeah, I've had parents put chili on that kid thumbs. 

Yeah, that tactic is a little harsh. or something. Oh, yeah. I know. Vegemite. Kids. My like that. Yeah.

So I mean, look, there's there's a lot of things you can do. depending on their age, a lot of kids will just stop it naturally. try and encourage or talk about a lot. You can put band aids on just to remind them because they're not gonna like second abanda You know, that's gross. And if it's a bright, colorful one, they might not want to like ruin and say this is why she is here. And I am ideas that is good.  But worst case. This is really extreme if you've got a really extreme some, some Sammy soccer thumbsucker. And orthodontists can actually put an appliance in the top of the mouth, and it has like, it sounds so harsh. It's got like a little spike. So where they put their thumb in and Well, yeah, cracks them. So that's a really extreme we prefer not to get to that. But yeah, try and try and get rid of some sucking by three years old latest if you can, but that goes for dummies to go need to get rid of dummies too.

Chloe Sacco  14:33  
Yeah, that's right. So and if we do have some suckers and the pellets do happen to move or change or whatever, can that be corrected later with braces? 

Emily Davies  14:47  
It can so there's there's different ways of correcting it. And again, that's another big discussion, braces down the track or an option but these days dentistry is looking more at holistic approaches. And we're actually looking at sort of correcting things naturally early on, which is called myotherapy. So you can look into oromo function if you want to. But that's about correcting the muscles and the jaw early on so that the jaw grows with enough space for the teeth later on. You can try and avoid braces. Yeah. So yeah, this look, there's always ways to fix. It's just how you go about it. Look into it. Yeah, the earlier you can get onto things, the better. Make sure you talk to a dental professional. But there's heaps of resources out there.

Chloe Sacco  15:33  
Yep. Cool. Now with dummies, like we touched on it just very quickly. So the age that we aim to recommend to get rid of a dummy is two to two and a half 

I would say so by two and a half you should have all the baby teeth in so do you think should sort of be done with which is nice? You don't really need the comforting as much. Yeah. But yeah, by two two and a half. We'd like to see the dummy gone and it doesn't matter what kind of dummy it is.

Good point because we get asked it we get asked I mean with the CMC dummies the BIBS. dummies. filibabba, all of them yeah. or whether they're orthodontic approved? Yeah.

Emily Davies  16:13  
Yeah. So it doesn't necessarily have to be authentic approves. Any time is fine. As long as you get rid of it at the right time. Yeah, I've transitioned my daughter to an ortho one just because we're trying to wean off the dummy because she's two in July. So we're trying to wean off the domino. And I really like the feel of Baba and the cure pox breathe easy. They're much better shape. So we've transitioned to those just from my peace of mind as well. But she used to take she's, she used to take bibs. She loved them. She actually took a little while to change, she did not want to change from the cherry shape. So that was a battle but we did it because I was able to show so

Chloe Sacco  16:54  
that's a good point. So if you're trying to wean them off the dummy possibly to change them to the orthodontic shape. Yeah,

Emily Davies  17:02  
if you're a little nervous about it, like if you would rather like let them still have some comfort. You don't want it to be too harsh. Yeah, you might feel a bit better changing to an orthodontic shape. And yes, start that transition

Chloe Sacco  17:13  
and for the new moms because I do get asked this quite often. What's the difference between an orthodontic shape and a cherry shape? To the cherry shape is the round. Nice. Yeah. And then the orthodontic shapes are more flat. So the Phil barber brand have the flat Tate the same say brand and the boobs brand have the round cherry shape and they're supposed to mimic the mums nipple. And that's why a lot of babies usually like that shape but they that will it depends. Everybody's different. Oh, but yeah, they

Emily Davies  17:44  
are and like I said it Either is fine at the start. Don't feel like because you're using cherry. Yeah, shape. It's wrong. It's definitely not any of them are gone by the right time. It's fine. So don't beat yourself up about it.

Chloe Sacco  17:56  
Yeah, so that's good advice, too. And when so we talked we've talked about the different types we've talked about how to wane Yeah, the way

Emily Davies  18:11  
I mean look, I'm definitely not an expert in this as well my little ones gone really well and I feel like it's just luck. I don't know. What I would try which worked for us is if they do need to go to sleep with try and take it out when they're you know that edge where they're like so close to sleep or this awake just take it out then and see if they just keep going to sleep and just do that more often. That's taking it down a bit earlier a bit earlier. Maybe offer a toy and sort of a dummy one night and just see if they can snuggle it or make sure they're just really tired and go to sleep without anything forget just say hey go look slept operation is law

Chloe Sacco  18:50  
if you need that

Emily Davies  18:53  
it's Yeah, look at a few extra nights of dummies not going to change anything but you know, you might lose your mind so

Chloe Sacco  19:00  
well Cassia I just when she turned one. It was literally like the week before she turned around. She was like through her damage. Like I'm done. She's taken it. That was a happy time. But then to try and get her weaned off breastfeeding was my problem. But I just went cold turkey with that. So I think if challies doesn't look like she's going to be giving up a dummy anytime soon. So I think when that's time I'm harsh I'm just like cold turkey so you buy better and sometimes you know it's a hard few days you sign up for a hard few days. 

Emily Davies  19:29  
Yeah, it's done. If you're willing to do that.

Chloe Sacco  19:32  
Then you just my thing is you just don't go backwards once you've started you've committed to it you keep going.

Emily Davies  19:38  
Yeah. And like I know we haven't talked much about diet in here but that's one thing I feel like we've parents as well like just sometimes you just still have to be harsh and say noticing. Yes. Yeah, no Easter just went past that was hard but diet is such a big part of oral health and keeping the teeth healthy. She's gonna say no and that's the other thing with kids. If they're brushing isn't perfect, it's not gonna it's never gonna be and also you should help brushing until they're like eight years old By the way, like you should be like helping out and really yeah, they grow their adult teeth around the back around six years old and you want to keep those because their adult teeth so so

Chloe Sacco  20:17  
we so we should be brushing your parents

Emily Davies  20:21  
parents in tears Yep. So obviously we get to an age where Mr. or Mrs. Independent we want to do it themselves, but you just have to trade off and say okay, you have a turn and then mommy or daddy gonna have a turn.

Chloe Sacco  20:32  
Say I'm even learning new things because Cassie is like, No, I'm brushing my teeth.

Emily Davies  20:38  
Yeah, and because Okay, that's that's cool. That mom's gonna have a go after I just mix. I tell the kids that there's only germs that only mommies and daddies can see so we have to let them have a go. We're also gonna live in

Chloe Sacco  20:48  
your meals. Right? I love these. And to brush in a circular motion.

Emily Davies  20:54  
Yeah, no scrubbing. No scrubbing. Harsh left or right. 

Chloe Sacco  20:58  
Do you brush tongues? Or is that an adult thing?

Emily Davies  21:00  
Oh, look if you can. Without them gagging you're doing better than me. So just maybe let them do that themselves when they're older. Okay, if you can get brushing down. Well done. If you can get some flossing down while seeing you get a gold star. Yeah. So when, like most people don't. So when we talk about baby teeth, there is baby molars stay there until your child's 12 years old. Yeah. Right. So they're not just baby teeth. They're like young adult teeth. So you need to be forcing in between the back ones when you can. No, I'm not expecting you to do it on your three year old.

Chloe Sacco  21:36  
No. Maybe like four or five?

Emily Davies  21:39  
Yeah, yeah. When she comes for a visit. We'll talk. Yeah, you can do that.

Chloe Sacco  21:43  
She calls you Dr. Emily. I

Emily Davies  21:44  
love that. That's so cute.

Chloe Sacco  21:47  
So toothbrush, toothbrushes. And there any specific brands? types? Soft one,

Emily Davies  21:54  
always soft, always always soft.

Chloe Sacco  21:57  
Yeah. Always some? Yes. Yes. Yes. I feel like see when I get soft toothbrushes. I feel like they don't brush my teeth and

Emily Davies  22:07  
brush your teeth a soft toothbrush or start scrubbing away your gum and enamel with a medium or

Chloe Sacco  22:12  
because my mom you know, Mike, my mom has battled gum disease for a long time. And she is like, Don't you ever dare get a hard to?

Emily Davies  22:22  
Yep, she's learned from the best. Yes. You know, she's she's had to she had a question about Yeah,

Chloe Sacco  22:28  
I think I was gonna try.

Emily Davies  22:31  
I mean, there's too much to go through with kids. But I will get to adult questions at some point. You can, you can ask me again. And she will send you to me. But yes, so soft toothbrush, even for kids. And there's so many kids toothbrush out there. They're even electric ones. So once they get a little bit older, you know, like primary school age, if they want to try an electric one, if that's going to get them brushing, then go for an electric

Chloe Sacco  22:54  
than a normal brush.

Emily Davies  22:57  
I prefer them offer for kids look, as long as you're helping it doesn't matter. Electric is going to do a little bit more if they're just sort of being a bit lazy holding their mouse. It's going to be at least doing some movement for them. But you should be helping still so yep, should still be cleaning thoroughly enough.

Chloe Sacco  23:13  
Yeah, good. Did we so we've talked about dummies and how they affect the teeth. natural rubber Sue, there's a few people spoke about as well. That's the same, same concept as bibs. And same sake gold dummies, they're round cherry shape, or the ones where you stocker.

Emily Davies  23:34  
Anything in the mouth. Yeah, like, you just need to get rid of it by two, two and a half.

Chloe Sacco  23:39  
Yeah. And I think that's Yeah, I think most people know that anyway, don't they? Surely By that time, you know,

Emily Davies  23:47  
yeah, like dental info. Like if you some people just don't don't know. And that's not anyone's fault. It just depends on sort of your background and whatnot. But yeah, I get some really interesting questions. And you'll have to remind myself that people don't get told, I actually went to my maternal health nurse appointment and they they cover so much. Yeah, but I was surprised how little like they sort of brush on it. Gentle stuff. Yeah, but not a lot. So I think it is really important that when you go for a visit, if you're expecting or you have a little one, please bring it up. Like that's what your clinicians therefore to help you. And to answer questions or at least give you an info plat pamphlet or something.

Chloe Sacco  24:26  
Yeah, I think by two, two and a half as well. They understand a bit more. So. I'd be saying to them. This is going to might record maybe just have a conversation.

Emily Davies  24:38  
Sometimes the tooth fairy comes really really early and takes the dummy away. That's a good thing or plant the dummy and then the next day. There's like flowers with trees on the top. Whatever work

Chloe Sacco  24:54  
yeah, or the East but I know a lot of people have used central the Easter Bunny.

Emily Davies  24:58  
Yeah, and I think that's so Okay, all right, that's whatever gets them excited, is like because they're excited for Santa Teresa money. So if they're excited to give their diamond away even better.

Chloe Sacco  25:09  
One thing we did touch on toothpaste. So one of the questions are what age should they start using? toothpaste doesn't?

Emily Davies  25:15  
Yes. So look, you don't really need toothpaste when they're little with I don't even use it with Audrey at the moment, it's more of a mechanical cleaning. Yeah. Suddenly, we told you, we're using a wet cloth when she's in the bath, sort of wash your face, wipe her teeth, and then I'll give her her brush. Sometimes she doesn't want to do it. That's okay. But toothpaste is good, too. If you are finding that your little one doesn't want to brush like that, again, the flavors can get them a bit more excited about it. And there's heaps of fluoride free ones. So I probably I don't recommend fluoride until they're maybe four or five, six. It's really dependent on your own personal beliefs. You don't need fluoride though. But if you are, you know all about fluoride, just make sure it's age appropriate. I think the brands we've mentioned before, they all have age appropriate things listed. So you'll never have too much fluoride in the toothpaste you're giving as long as it's in that age bracket. Yeah, because kids swallow toothpaste. They don't spit it out.

Chloe Sacco  26:14  
Cassia swallows it.

Emily Davies  26:15  
Yeah. So that's why you're going to make sure what you're using is listed as okay for that age group or fluoride free if that's the option you want to go with? Yep. Yeah, yeah. When they're when they're six and those tiny adult teeth, and they can spit. With those, those two things. I don't see them spinning. Okay, then you can transition to a slightly older toothpaste.

Chloe Sacco  26:36  
Cool. So I'm just being flicking through everybody's questions to make sure we've run over most of the last one that we haven't touched on teeth grinding. Is that normal for three

Emily Davies  26:48  
year olds? Oh, such a big thing. Okay? No. So it's not normal. It's common, but not normal. If your child is teeth grinding, they may grow out of it. But if they don't, it means that there's some other issues going on with their sleep and their breathing. So I would definitely mention it to a dental professional. Because we do want that habit to stop. Cool.

Chloe Sacco  27:13  
Perfect. Well, I think we have answered everybody's questions. I think this is very informative, because even I learned some things. And we've been friends for a long time. So I should know wise.

Emily Davies  27:25  
Well, how often? I don't know. I mean, I love talking about teeth. And I'm not gonna make with us dinner parties. No,

Chloe Sacco  27:33  
no. For anybody who has any further questions, we did have a lot of questions about adults teeth as well. But we're trying to keep these more for the kids and advice for kids. But if you do have questions for adults, you can find Emily on Instagram, your Instagram handle is Emily or haich D. So you can ask her all the questions you like, give her a follow. She always uploads some very informative information and reels and documents and lots of fun things that you can learn as well. So thank you for joining us today. We will see you next week. Thank you, Emily. Thanks, Chlo. 

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