What Parents Need to Know About Their Young Children's Oral Health with Dr. Phan Nguyen

Angelina Huang: 00:00:02

Welcome to the Dentistry For Kids podcast, where Angelina and Cameron and we love candy. Do you all love candy? We've learned how to enjoy all the candy we want without getting cavities or getting in trouble with our dentist wants to learn our magic. Join us discover how to enjoy sweets and have nice bright, clean, shiny white tea. Let's go.

Cameron Huang: 00:00:28

Ladies and gentlemen get ready to meet the best dentist in Las Vegas with the hands of a master woodworker and the precision of a dental laser. Dr Dr. Phan Nguyen. Dr. Nguyen is the owner of Town and Country Dental in Las Vegas, and he's here to talk with us today about young children's oral health. He's a certified laser user, an active member of the Las Vegas implant study group, and a compassionate philanthropist who leads hundreds of dentists volunteers to provide free dental care to homeless people in Las Vegas. He's also the proud father of two beautiful children, and He's happily married to his beautiful boss for over a decade. Welcome to our podcast. Thank you. But our first question, it's what are some common oral health problems that young children experience? And how can parents prevent them?

Dr. Phan Nguyen: 00:01:19

Well, some of the most common oral health problem is decay. Mainly because sweets in too much candy. You know love kids, it can seem to eat sweets, be at soda, candy, and you know they have a busy life. So then they don't brush your teeth. You know, they go to school, eat, study, and then pass out go to sleep. And then all that food they consume all day long. Or what happens, right? You start to get to K and Miss teeth. Simple solution. Brush your teeth. Right time morning. Just brush twice a day, simple way of reducing cavities. And another issue would be gum disease. You don't brush your teeth. You don't floss, you don't get swollen. At that time you get cavities and swollen gums, swollen gums lead to abscesses, and then you lose the teeth. Yeah, not a good thing is no.

Cameron Huang: 00:02:24

So next question is how often should young children visit the dentist for regular checkups and cleanings? And why is it important?

Dr. Phan Nguyen: 00:02:33

Every six months, we typically recommend parents bring the kids in for a checkup because things can happen. You know, kids be elementary school, middle school, high school, they go through phases where the good certain time and then they just become lazy, right? Where the parents are so busy with their life. They don't help the kids with airbrushing. Or help them reduce the masteries that you support important to come every six months. That way we can kind of take a look at the x ray and look at the T and see if there's any changes. You know, if they're doing a good job, there was a Hey, keep it up, right? But they're not doing a good job. And there's lots of cavities developing. And we gotta go go live with the kid and the parents, hey, we need to readjust this need to cut down sweets brush twice a day and improve on that and we catch it early. You can stop the bad habits, right? Good habits, we got to work out that make it better. And then you don't have the tooth decay problems. Okay.

Cameron Huang: 00:03:39

And what can parents do to encourage good oral hygiene habits in the young children such as brushing and flossing regularly?

Dr. Phan Nguyen: 00:03:48

Well, the best way is to do it themselves. If kids see that parents brush your teeth twice a day, they floss. Well, the kids are gonna emanate that right. They're gonna copy what the parents do. They see the parents eating candy drinking Coke. They'll brush their teeth go sleep without brushing the teeth. They're gonna copy the whole same habit. So it's porn appearance to try to be good role models with oral hygiene. Cut down sweets, brush twice a day, floss, and make sure that the kids do that. Remind them and tell them you have to do this. It's important we respond.

Cameron Huang: 00:04:26

How can parents adjust dental anxiety in their children? And what can the dentists do to make the experience more comfortable?

Dr. Phan Nguyen: 00:04:33

Oh, that's a good one. That's a good one. Um, dental anxiety comes because of not knowing. Right? So what I do in my practice is I do show town. So I showed them what we're going to be doing, kind of tell them what's going on. And then we do that we make it done to reduce anxiety, but I tell them by giving them a mirror and tell them this is what we're doing initially exactly what we're doing. We don't lie about it, you know, they asked, it hurts. Once again, maybe a little bit, but you feel better, right? So it's important be honest with the kids. So that way they can trust you. So that's the most important thing is earning that trust. And then the kids won't be so scared of being to the dentist.

Cameron Huang: 00:05:20

What should parents do if their child experiences a dental emergency, such as a broken or knocked out tooth,

Dr. Phan Nguyen: 00:05:28

most important thing, call your dentist, one that you trust for any need to come right away within 3045 minutes. Let's say that you stopped out, it needs to be put it back in right away, you can rinse it with a little bit of distilled water and then put it back in the mouth right away, because you don't want any breeze in there. But the same time you don't want to clean it out. Because you clean it, you scrub it out, you're removing the cell tissue that's going to help it heal, right. So you just rinse it out, put it back in the socket, and then go to the dentist as soon as possible. So that way the dentist can look at take a look at the area may be splinted to prevent it from moving away. And then that's going to help the survivability of the tooth bullet lasts forever. No, but it will give us some time to kind of heal around there and have a tooth at least. But most people they call your dentist. If you're an ER, they just gotta tell you to the dentist. So

Cameron Huang: 00:06:31

what are dental sealants? And how do they prevent cavities in young children?

Dr. Phan Nguyen: 00:06:36

What dental sealants are basically, they're like little, I would say like, like, little filling material, but it's flammable material that we put into the grooves of a tooth. So these baby tooth, they have a dog to their grooves, where Fuqing you're trapped in there. So you don't brush well. The food particles stuck in there and you have sweets, and the tooth the tooth can get start to get the cave. So the theory is if you make the top surface of the two smooth footers get stuck in there, and then you will get cavity. But the problem is, sometimes your facilities are not done properly. Fukase still get underneath, and you get cavities. So that's why it's very important to come back to the desk every six months, so we can check it to make sure that the sealant was still good. Got it.

Cameron Huang: 00:07:33

So what are some dietary recommendations for promoting good oral health in young children?

Dr. Phan Nguyen: 00:07:40

Well, the first thing is again, brushing twice a day. Very important. Flossing every day. Cutting down on sweets, like soda, juice, sports drink, all that. It plays a big factor right throughout the whole day you drink in different things. And it's the cumulative effect. Right? Cut down on sticky candy. Jolly Ranchers, Twizzlers. Those are things going to stick around your tooth, and it starts to get the cake easily. So cut down on those need to brush with tooth patients fluoride, fluoride will really strengthen the enamel to prevent cavity. What we also recommend is using plaque mouth, it is helpful I rinse in there so it helps strengthen the enamel there. Kids who are on braces, for example. That's a big thing, right? A lot of kids have braces, they don't take care of it. And what happens the cat you started have lots of demineralization of enamel, get this white spots. So the enamel gets weaker. And that's how you get cavities. That's why it's important for the kids to have braces to cut down on sweets. Don't eat stuff that are sticky. guys gonna stick around the tea and get tons of calories afterward. So it's very, very important to brush twice a day. Floss, use mouthrinse Aska fluoride in there. That's a major thing.

Cameron Huang: 00:09:15

And how can parents ensure that their child's dental care is affordable? And what are some financing options for dental treatments?

Dr. Phan Nguyen: 00:09:24

fordable. That's a tough one because it all depends on the insurance, right? So in Vegas, most most families work for the casino. With casino they tend to provide pretty good coverage. So parents should take advantage of the coverage that it's given to them. Most dental coverage will provide for exam and cleaning twice a year a lot of families don't go so they're just losing we're just throwing money away. So the best thing to do is make sure they use that benefit that they have but twice a year for checkup, get X rays to cleaning. And that's the best way to prevent cavity. You know, prevention is the key. If you prevent, you won't get the cake typically, right? And you don't have insurance. You know, ask your dentist, hey, do you have discount for patient who don't have dental insurance? And most, most dentists will say, Yeah, we do. You know, this listen to what we charge for patients who don't have insurance. And it typically is very affordable versus buying private dental insurance, which doesn't cover very much. So it's just in long run. It's better just to pay cash if you don't have to enter chores. And most dental office will provide very reasonable pricing for exam cleaning. Next phrase. Perfect.

Cameron Huang: 00:10:51

So before we wrap this up, do you have anything else you want to add?

Dr. Phan Nguyen: 00:10:57

Yes, I do. Or healthcare is very, very important. You smiled important. People's nose your smile first when they see you. If you have a horrible smile, because you don't brush your teeth well, because you don't loss your cavity. Yuck mill, pure judge. So take care of your teeth. When you're able to when you're young. Floss cut down sweet. Have a beautiful smile.

Cameron Huang: 00:11:24

And you want to smile for us.

Cameron Huang: 00:11:29

Is that it?

Dr. Phan Nguyen: 00:11:30

That's it. That's all Yeah.

Cameron Huang: 00:11:32

Perfect. That's all I have for you, Uncle Phan.

Cameron Huang: 00:11:37

Thank you very much for coming today.

Dr. Phan Nguyen: 00:11:40

All right. Well, thank you. Have a good day. Bye. Bye.