The tooth is made of 3 layers, each with unique characteristics and specific function, the enamel, dentin, and pulp. The enamel is the outermost layer of the tooth and gives the tooth it's hard and lustrous appearance. The enamel is thicker on the crown than the root and is the first one to be affected by tooth decay. The only symptom when the enamel is decayed is food lodgment and discoloration.

The dentin is the next layer, which is composed of minute fine tubules leading from the enamel to the living portion of the tooth, which is the pulp. Once decay progresses from the enamel, the dentin is affected, and this leads to sensitivity in the teeth. When the root portion is exposed to the oral environment, because the root is covered by a more delicate substance called cementum, more severe dental sensitivity ensues.

There is a sharp, shooting discomfort through the tooth to specific foods, such as sweet, acidic, or hot or cold foods.  The main reasons for tooth sensitivity include:
-  Tooth decay, both crown and root caries
-  Periodontal disease and gum recession
-  Tooth erosion 
-  Aggressive tooth brushing
-  Mouth breathing
-  Bruxism or night grinding 

However, there are some simple ways to manage sensitivity, which can be done regularly at home.
1. Toothpaste made for sensitive teeth: Potassium nitrate has been shown to block the tubules and has been included as an active ingredient in toothpastes. These are very effective, and if you are brushing twice, this can be used instead of the regular paste once.
2. Brushing: Both the type of toothbrush and the brushing technique can have an impact on sensitivity.  Change to softer brushes and learn the ideal way to brush your teeth. A lot of times, rough brushing can lead to erosion and subsequent sensitivity
3. Rinsing: Fluoride containing rinses have been proven to reduce sensitivity 
4. Food habits: Even before sensitivity sets in, being cautious to avoid acidic fruits and juices can help prolong the onset of sensitivity. If possible, consuming these food stuffs should be followed by brushing or at the least a thorough rinsing
5. Sealants: If a person is prone to caries (deep pits and fissures, for instance), then it is advisable to get sealants applied on the teeth. This can reduce the instance of wearing of the enamel which then leads to sensitivity
6. Mouth guard: If you are a night grinder, then a mouth guard can help curtail this habit and thereby reduce sensitivity.
There you go with how to reduce sensitivity. Try these simple, easy measures and go on to enjoy the sweets or hot or cold foods that you have always craved for.

Ways to Reduce Teeth Sensitivity

Best Way To Treat Fever In Children

Let us imagine a scenario: It is 4 in the morning. You are fast asleep and suddenly you hear the discomforting cries of your child. You sense that something is wrong and you immediately rush to the other room. As soon as you touch him, you realize that the child's body is burning up like a furnace? You immediately rush to get your thermometer and the figures on it do not make for a good reading - 102 degrees F. Panic dulls your response rate. Your first reaction is to call the doctor. It might be the right thing to do in some rare cases, but in most cases experts advise differently.

Stay Calm

The most important thing is for you to stay calm and relax and realize that it is still well within your hand to take care of the child. First things first, fever is not your enemy. Rather, it is body's way of telling you that your immune system is fighting alien elements in your body. Children of the age group 0 to 3 almost always face high temperatures at some point in their nascent lives.

The Need of the Hour

How you should go about it depends on your child's age and thermometer's readings. If your child is a newborn or is less than 3 months old and reading is above 100.4 degrees, then you must call the doctor at once.

Between 3 to 6 months, temperature threshold is 101 degrees F, while 103 degrees F is usually the limit for children older than 6 months. But, if the child is showing alarming symptoms such as body ache, fatigue, and diarrhoea, along with the high temperature of 101 degrees F or 102 degrees F, then you should consider calling the doctor on a priority basis.

Take the Hints - Be Wary of the Symptoms

Keeping an eye out on the symptoms is extremely important. If your child has a running nose and low-grade fever (99-100 degrees F), then he might be suffering from a bout of common cold. Vomiting and diarrhoea usually indicate stomach virus. For children with weak immune system or at higher risk than others, it is advisable to consult a doctor.

A 24 hours rest is generally advised in flu, till the patient is fever free without taking any antibiotics. Ailments like an earache, sore throat or discomfort in peeing should be brought to the notice of doctor as it might indicate soar throat, UTI or ear infection, all of which require antibiotic treatments. Certain signs warrant an immediate medical attention. Discomfort in breathing along with constant crying, difficulty in walking, unusual rashes and purple looking spots demand that he be taken to the E.R. right away.

The most important thing is to complete the treatment course diligently and let the fever run its course as it may actually aid the body in building immunity against the fever causing germs and fight them. One must remember that being calm and relaxed at taxing times go a long way in helping you take right decisions and treating fever in children is all about patience and right decisions.

Best Way To Treat Fever In Children

Forging positive peer relationships is essential for all children. Sadly, children with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) find making friends and being accepted by their peers difficult. The hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsiveness associated with the disorder can impede the child s attempts of socializing with others in several ways.

Non-acceptance, isolation, loneliness- these are perhaps some of the most painful aspects of ADHD-related ailments. These experiences usually leave behind long-lasting effects on the minds of the child. The good news is, you can help your child develop social skills and competencies. Here are 4 ways you can do this-

Make your child socially aware: Studies show that children with ADHD fail to monitor their own behavior. Often they are unable to have a clear awareness and understanding of social situations or the reactions they provoke in others. ADHD-related impairments can result in weaknesses of your child s ability to read or assess a situation, self-monitor, self-evaluate, and adjust accordingly to the same.
Role-play to teach your child: Children with ADHD have tough time learning from past experiences. They tend to react without thinking about the consequences. As parents, you must provide them frequent and immediate feedback on inappropriate behavior. One way you can do this is by adopting the  role-play  method. Role-playing can help you teach your child how to practice social skills, and respond to challenging situations.
Provide opportunities to forge friendships: Arrange for a specific  play time  for the child. Provide opportunities for developing friendly bonds with peer groups. Children who are of school-going age should be encouraged more to interact with others. Setting a fixed time for playful activities can be helpful. You can have your child s friends (one or two at a time) over to take part in some activity, and watch him socialize with them. As the child grows older, friendships and relationships often become complicated. Therefore, it is important that the parents be involved and continue to facilitate positive peer interaction.
Improve your child s peer status: Once the child is tagged by his/her peer group in a negative way for lacking social skills, it becomes hard to drop the tag. Having a negative reputation is in fact one of the greatest obstacles the child may have to overcome socially. Parents are advised to work with the child s teacher/coach to address such negative reputational effects, and improve their peer status.
ADHD can thus be managed by improving one s social skills. Parents of a child who suffer from this hyperactive disorder can also seek help from a professional to get some input on the condition of their child.

Before applying the tips suggested here, it is highly recommended that an Energy Assessment be done for your child by an expert in ADHD. This will help establish the correct diagnosis in the first place and you can then explore unconventional or alternative healing methods such as Intent Healing that are helping parents who have children with ADHD see their child thrive with their talents and gifts by curing the limiting symptoms in the child.

4 Ways To Improve Social Skills Of An ADHD-Affected Child!

Dyslexia is a neurological condition which makes learning a difficult process in children. Children suffering from dyslexia find themselves incapable of reading and learning as compared to their peers. Dyslexia occurs when the brain cannot process graphic symbols. This causes difficulty in recognizing, spelling and also decoding words. The effect of this condition varies from one person to another and is most often a lifelong condition. It can also vary as a result of different ages in people. However, a slower reading level is one common characteristic that is present in all dyslexic children.

Dyslexia is a strictly neurological condition that has little to do with a person s intelligence. It can also occur as a result of genetic conditions. Early detection of the condition can help in improvement before he or she reaches adolescence. A thorough evaluation process of the child will include the following aspects IQ level, language skills, ability of word recognition, phonological processing, automaticity skills, fluency skills, family history and also knowledge of vocabulary.

The most common symptoms of dyslexia include:

Trouble reading
Very slow progression to milestones such as walking, talking, crawling and learning to ride a bicycle.
Slow development of speech
Trouble with hand-eye coordination
A slow rate of learning when it comes to data
Problem with speech
Very poor concentration span
Children suffering from dyslexia are more prone to developing certain autoimmune diseases such as eczema and asthma.
Dyslexia is sometimes subdivided into a number of categories such as Surface Dyslexia, Rapid Deficit Dyslexia, Visual Dyslexia and Phonological Dyslexia.

There is no medical treatment for dyslexia and help generally includes assigning reading specialists, child psychologist, speech-language pathologists and child neuropsychologists.

Certain practices that you yourself follow when dealing with your dyslexic child are:

Praise your child from time to time
Remind your child that being dyslexic has nothing to do with intelligence levels
Mix with other parents who have dyslexic children and interact with them about ways and strategies to heighten the child s confidence level.
Deal with your child patiently.

Understanding Dyslexia - What All Should You Know

All parents expect their child to start going to school, learn writing and learning and do well in academics. However, children with dyslexia may not be able to progress at school at the same pace as others. The good news is that there are early pointers that can help a parent to identify dyslexia in the early stages. This can be helpful in training and support the child socially to learn and socialise normally.  Dyslexia is a disability that affects both spoken and written language. They have a different learning style and when supported and encouraged, instead of mocked and insulted, they can become avid readers. The following are common 10 indicators of developing dyslexia in children, in general, and at school.

10 Behavioural signs to watch for in general:

The child usually has difficulty concentrating and following instructions
The child is easily distracted, seems to daydream, and tends to forget words.
Poor personal organisation skills and is not very good at time keeping.
May get confused between today, tomorrow, yesterday; east and west; right and left; up and down.
Has difficulty remembering seasons, months and days.
Tends to be doing something to avoid work.
Seems distracted, and  daydream,  does not seem to listen
Requires a lot of effort focusing on things at hand and is constantly tired.
Slow pace of processing in terms of spoken or written language
Often appears withdrawn or lost in his own world.
10 Behaviours to watch for at school:

Poor standard of writing and written work in comparison with oratory skills.
Poor handwriting with badly formed letters.
Confused easily between similar looking letters like m/w, n/u, b/d.
Usually, messes up work by using close but wrong spellings and rewriting the same
Mixes up words by using similar-looking words   quiet and quite, tired and tried.
Same word is spelt differently at different times
Poor motor skills and pencil grip leading to slow, inaccurate writing
Produces a lot of phonetic spelling which does not change with repeated corrections
There is difficulty in blending words together, and struggles a lot when asked to read out loud, can miss out or add words that are familiar in between
Has difficulty connecting the story that is being written or read
As noted, these children have very inconsistent behaviour with very limited understanding of nonverbal communication. If these symptoms go on increasing as they grow, it is advisable to seek professional help so that support can be provided and the condition can be arrested at the early stages.

Dyslexia - 10 Signs Your Child Maybe Suffering From It!

Play is an important way, through which a child learns about the world. Through playful activities, children learn to socialize and communicate with others, solve problems, and use language effectively. 

Play is a form of expression   it is fun and all-important to cognitive, social, physical, and even emotional development. Learning through play is gaining recognition as a way to improve social and communication skills in children.

What does a playful approach to learning mean?

Playful learning implies that when children engage in enjoyable activities that are meaningful and relevant, they are able to memorize things for longer and develop holistic skills at the same time for lifelong learning. This usually takes place in a setting where the child has opportunities to take risks, share their experiences with others, and imagine new things.

How does playfulness help while learning?

Children who are engaged in playful activities are empowered to use their strengths and take part in experiences that they find relevant to their interests. Internal motivation and self-efficacy is the key to the characteristics of playful learning. 

Research suggests that parents who respond to their child s playful behaviour   by describing, labelling, or asking questions about the events or objects that are of interest to the child   improve intellectual and communication skills in them. In turn, kids develop a large vocabulary arming them with the necessary skills that are needed to acquire to perform well in academics. 

Parents can take a playful approach by following these tips  

Allow your child to be creative   through music and art   and express his/her thoughts more clearly. Sit by their side and watch them learn using different colours, shapes, and forms. 

Encourage your child to play with puzzles, or paint a picture, as it will encourage their artistic skills

Find out what triggers a positive response in your child and what prompts disruptive, challenging behaviour in him/her

When you interact with your child, talking and listening, singing and reading together, you are helping them learn about spoken and written communication, language, as well as conversational skills, such as taking turns and listening. 





A Playful Approach To Enhance Communication & Social Skills In Children!

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