Preventing Spring Sports Injuries with Mouth Guards

Pediatric Dentistry of Garden City & Glen Cove

Garden City:516-222-5100

Glen Cove: 516-759-7000

www.PediatricDentistryofGardenCity.com

#DidYouKnow that 60% of facial injuries occur during sports practice?  If your child is participating in a spring sport at school this year, it's important that they keep their teeth protected.  
Celebrate National Facial Protection Month by providing your child with a mouth guard that keeps their smiles protected while they play the sports that they love!

Types of Mouth Guards:

• Stock Mouth Guards - These inexpensive mouth guards come pre-formed and ready to wear.  While they are convenient and affordable, your child might find the fit to be a little uncomfortable.  
• Boil and Bite Mouth Guards - These mouth guards are softened in water and then inserted to adapt to the shape of the mouth.
• Custom-Fitted Mouth Guards - Custom mouth guards are designed to fit your child's smile.  They are perfect for those that find one size fits all options to be uncomfortable.  Due to their fit, custom mouth guards are also the best at preventing facial injuries.

Read more about the importance of Mouth Guards and how they can help protect your child from facial injuries here.  

Call 516-222-5100 to contact our Garden City office or 516-759-7000 to contact our Glen Cove office.  Don’t forget to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and check out our YouTube channel!

Eco-Friendly Toothbrushing Tips for Earth Day

Pediatric Dentistry of Garden City & Glen Cove

Garden City:516-222-5100

Glen Cove: 516-759-7000

www.PediatricDentistryofGardenCity.com

Happy Earth Day!  Have you and your family helped Mother Nature today?  Try these simple, eco-friendly brushing tips!

Eco-Friendly Brushing Tips:

• Conserve Water Use - Turn off your faucet while brushing your teeth!  Rather than keeping the faucet running while you brush your teeth, wet the brush and turn the tap off.  Only turn it back on to clean your toothbrush after you are done.  This can save up to 8 gallons of water a day!
• Save on Toothpaste - You really only need a pea-sized drop of toothpaste to clean your teeth.  Excessive use of toothpaste means using more water to rinse your brush and more toothpaste (which can cost you more money)!
• Recycle Your Toothbrush - The "Gimme 5" program is a recycling program designed to recycle toothbrushes.  For every six Preserve toothbrushes that you send back to recycle, they send you a $6 coupon towards your next toothbrush.  
• Upcycle Your Toothbrush - There are many ways to upcycle old toothbrushes!  Try making this fun toothbrush bracelet!

If you want to schedule a spring cleaning and exam for your kids, contact our office.  Call 516-222-5100 to contact our Garden City office or 516-759-7000 to contact our Glen Cove office.  Don’t forget to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and check out our YouTube channel!

Meet Our Team: Getting to Know Stephanie Taveras

Pediatric Dentistry of Garden City & Glen Cove

Garden City:516-222-5100

Glen Cove: 516-759-7000

www.PediatricDentistryofGardenCity.com

Meet Stephanie Taveras, R.D.H, one our wonderful dental hygienists!  Stephanie has been working with us since August of 2013 and we are so glad to have her on our team!

Through this brief interview, we invite you to learn more about Stephanie and what makes her so passionate about caring for tiny teeth!

Where are you originally from?
I was born and raised on Long Island

From where did you get your degree?
I received my degree from Farmingdale State College in May of 2013.

When did you first decide you wanted to be a hygienist?
I first decided I wanted to be a hygienist in my third year of college, right after a regular check-up visit at the dentist.

When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a nurse or medical doctor as a child.

What is your favorite part about being a hygienist?
Working in a pediatric office, I see many kids who are visiting for the first time and many times are afraid of the dentist.  My favorite part about being a hygienist is just changing my patients' minds on how they view dental visits and showing them it could actually be fun.  I get to educate the patient on practicing good oral hygiene and hope they continue it as adults.  I recently saw a three year old patient who walked in crying because she had a bad experience prior and was afraid of the dentist.  My most memorable moment on the job was seeing her walk out with a big smile on her face!

What is the best part about working at the office?
The best part of working at the office is just working with a team.  Everyone is so helpful and very team oriented.

What do you do for fun?
I like working out and traveling - which I don't do enough of!

Visit our website to learn more about Stephanie and the services offered at Pediatric Dentistry of Garden City & Glen Cove.  You can also call 516-222-5100 to schedule an appointment for your child at our Garden City practice or 516-759-7000 to schedule an appointment at our Glen Cove office.  

Don’t forget to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and check out our YouTube channel!

April is National Facial Protection Month!

Pediatric Dentistry of Garden City & Glen Cove

Garden City:516-222-5100

Glen Cove: 516-759-7000

www.PediatricDentistryofGardenCity.com

April is National Facial Protection Month!  As your kids enjoy the beautiful spring weather and get ready to participate in outdoor activities, don't forget to protect their teeth!  Any time when kids are engaged in a contact sport, it's important to wear a mouth guard.

Here are a few sports that kids should wear mouth guards during.

Sports with Mouth Guards:

• Weightlifting
• Hockey
• Basketball
• Soccer
• Football
• Cheerleading
• Gymnastics
• Baseball
• Softball
• Tennis
• Karate

These are just a few of the contact sports that kids should be wearing mouth guards while they play.  Mouth guards help reduce the risk of knocking out a tooth or breaking a jaw in any sport where kids come into contact with something hard - whether it be another player, a ball, or the pavement.

If you want to schedule a spring cleaning and exam for your kids, contact our office.  Call 516-222-5100 to contact our Garden City office or 516-759-7000 to contact our Glen Cove office.  Don’t forget to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and check out our YouTube channel!

Protect Smiles While Playing Spring Sports

Pediatric Dentistry of Garden City & Glen Cove

Garden City:516-222-5100

Glen Cove: 516-759-7000

www.PediatricDentistryofGardenCity.com

Are your kids involved in any spring sports?  They're a great way to stay active and involved!  Whether your kids play sports at school or in the community, it's important that they stay safe and protect not just their bodies, but also their teeth!  

Here are a few of the most common types of dental injuries that happen when kids play spring sports.

Common Dental Injuries:

• Fractures - A chipped or broken tooth is one of the most common spring sport dental injuries.  If your child chips their tooth, try to stabilize the portion of the tooth still in the mouth by gently biting on a towel.  Then, contact our office for emergency dental care.
• Avulsion - This dental term means that the entire tooth has been knocked out.  This can happen in any contact sport.  If possible, place the tooth back in the socket and visit our office.
• Luxation - In this case, the tooth is in the socket, but int eh wrong position.  As with the other emergency dental sports injuries, we can help with the proper medical care at our office.

Did you know that 10-20% of all sports related injuries are dental?  Read more about the importance of mouth guards and how they can help protect your child's teeth while playing sports here.

If you want to schedule a spring cleaning and exam for your kids, contact our office.  Call 516-222-5100 to contact our Garden City office or 516-759-7000 to contact our Glen Cove office.  Don’t forget to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and check out our YouTube channel!

Tooth Friendly Crafts for Spring Break

Pediatric Dentistry of Garden City & Glen Cove

Garden City:516-222-5100

Glen Cove: 516-759-7000

www.PediatricDentistryofGardenCity.com

Are your kids home for spring break?  It might be a rainy week, but kids can still have fun indoors.  Here are a few fun dental crafts that will help keep your kids out of trouble and help them learn how to better care for their teeth!

Tooth Friendly Craft Ideas:

Marshmallow Teeth
This creative food craft idea allows kids to practice brushing between marshmallow "teeth."  
Check out the craft on the Edible Crafts website here.

Tooth Cupcakes 
Have a sweet tooth?  These tooth cupcakes are a cute way to have tooth-themed fun!  Just remind your kids to brush afterwards to make sure that they get the sugar off of their teeth.  

Check out the recipe here.

Eggsperiment
Do your kids love science?  Let them try this fun "eggsperiment" at home this week.  Take two boiled eggs and put them in cups with dark soda and the other two with coffee or tea.  Let them sit over night and see how the eggs get staind.  Kids can even try to use toothbrushes and toothpaste to try to get the eggs clean.  

Visit this website to learn more about the experiment.

Tooth Brushing Water Station
Set out a toothbrush, toothpaste, water, cups and an egg carton (to look like teeth).  This will help kids practice brushing!  

Visit this website for more details.

If you want to schedule a spring cleaning and exam for your kids, contact our office.  Call 516-222-5100 to contact our Garden City office or 516-759-7000 to contact our Glen Cove office.  Don’t forget to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and check out our YouTube channel!