Dr. Uma Venkateswaran

Here are habits to implement today to maintain that perfect smile for you and your family tomorrow

As women at work or at home, we are responsible for the health of those around us. If you are a compassionate and caring mother, daughter, sister or wife looking after the dental health of your family becomes imperative to their well being.

Here are some useful habits that can go a long way in keeping you and your family smiling for years.

#1 go soft automatic

Rev up your brushing-use an automated tooth brush. This maybe true for not only you as a woman but for your family. Make sure you switch them to an automatic or motorized brush with soft or extra soft bristles. This works best since it takes the guesswork out of brushing and improves your and your children's technique even if they're sleepy in the morning.

#2 dental emergency kit

Keeping a dental emergency kit loaded with some essentials like a basic dental painkiller (as prescribed), clove oil, some dental floss and a toothpick (not a habit recommended by us but when things get lodged and cause pain it maybe the last resort)

#3 vitamin check

Best way of ensuring good tooth and bone health is to ensure good levels of vitamins vitamin d3, calcium especially if you're beating menopause and even iron, b complex to prevent anaemias which can be detected orally. Deficiencies of vitamins and essential minerals can make your family more susceptible to oral health problems.

#4 gift a smile

Gift your dependents a great smile be it preventive treatments for your young ones like our decay protection programme which ensures they never have to feel dental pain like we have, or the braces intervention campaign which helps guide teeth to proper positions at an early age. More questions about your young ones dental health

For the elderly who missed out on a lot of preventive dental work can now enjoy the benefits of latest technology giving them fixed teeth instead of removable dentures.

#5 start a trend-family oral health checkup

Mark a day in your calendar a public holiday or the beginning of the year a time that you can easily remember and as a family get an annual checkup to not only ensure that you do not suffer from any dental problems but also early detection of any upcoming medical issues can be done.

Doctor sahab my baby is not gaining weight properly or not eating anything is the one of the major complain in any parenting forum and in my clinic also. This blog is dedicated to those parents who always concerned about baby weight. I will try to cover all step by step. This post is only for exclusive breast feeding baby means below 6 months of age baby. At birth baby weight should be approximately 3kg or more than that. Less than 2.5 kg is low birth weight. Babies lost there weight in initial days and regain there birth weigh around 10th to 14 th day of life. In first 3 months growth rate is approximately 25 to 30 gm per day after that it will increase @ 400 gms per month till 1 year. Weight will double at 5 months and triple at 1 year. Usually we compare our baby weight with others and get frustrated our baby is not healthy. We expect chubby photogenic baby. So here I will try to explain the whole story.

Let's start from the very beginning the story start the day we decide to have a baby. Maternal nutritional status and medical fitness have a mojour role. Single infection can cause low birth weight baby or preterm. In us dental infection is one of the majour cause of preterm baby. We adviced to consult couples before and after pregnancy for any problem. You can have folic acid 3monthes before concepction. Mother, short interval of previous pregnancy, maternal hemoglobin level, nutritional status, high bp (pih, viral infection, bleeding per vaginal, chromosomal abnormalities can be cause of low birth wight, prematuered or iugr baby. Women should have healthy food, do some light exercise and try to live stress free life.

In second part of story baby born with certain weight and maturity. Weight less than 2.5 kg is low birth weight and birth before 37 weeks called premature baby. Baby weight gain is mostly affected by recurrent infection and feeding and temperature for initial days.
 

Temperature regulation:
Too hot or too cold weather can affect weight. Try to wear one extra clothes what we are wearing like if we are comfortable in half shirt we can wear him full shirt or if we are comfortable in full shirt we can wear him a half sweater more. In winter we have wear him cap and shocks but in summer only cotton jhabla is sufficient. 

Infection control:
New born babies had low immunity so chances of infection is much more. To prevent infection you should remember these things

• try to touch baby after hand wash and try to not touch the above the wrist joint. We touch by infected hand and baby keep the same hand in his mouth get stomach infection.
• don't give any antibiotics without without consulting doctor and complete full course of antibiotics
• immunize your child as per schedule.
• avoid bottle feed if possible and if you are using it should be properly sterilized.

Feeding:
Exclusive breast feeding is adviced till 6 months. There is either problem in milk production and ejection or technique of feeding.

• Milk production and ejection: Milk production is controlled by prolactin harmone. For most part of milk production is use it or loose it process. The more often baby nurse the more milk you make. Oxytocin harmone is responsible for milk ejection. Suckling, thought of the baby, sound and sight of
• Baby stimulate milk ejection: Stress is the major suppress of milk ejection. Plenty of water, milk, apricot, poppy seed, papaya, oatmeal, carrot, bottle ground, funnel seed, basal leaf, can be used to augmentation of milk production.
• Breast feeding: Proper positioning and attachment is necessary for successful breast feeding. Try to feed baby with one breast at a time so baby can get for milk and hind milk both. For flat or inverted nipple can be corrected by syringing method. Tounge tie or fungal infection can be cause of improper feeding. Feed your baby on demand or every 2hr. If baby satisfied he should sleep 2 to 3 hrs after feeding, passes 6 to 8 time urine. 5 to10 min sufficient for feeding if your baby takes half an hour means you had less milk production. Initial 3monthes feeding frequency8 to10 times day after 7 to 8 times a day may be sufficient.
• Condition related to baby: For preterm and low birth weight kangaroo mother care is very useful. Where baby is kept in vertical position between the mother breast under the clothes so both skin can be in touch. You have to keep baby at least 1 to 2 hrs in a single sitting and as long as you can. It helping milk production and weight gain of baby. Repeated infection of respiratory tract, stomach infection, urinary tract infection, some congenital infection, metabolic disorder may cause slow weight gain. Neurological insult during delivery may cause slow weight gain with delayed mile stones.
• Motherhood is a great honor and privilage: It is the most challenging and utmost satisfying job, and as in every job first year is most difficult one with less paying with no vacation. As a man we never understand these things. So big salaute to those moms who day and night care there baby and wish best of luck.

So you've decided to straighten your teeth and get a great smile that too naturally but the road to a brilliant smile comes with a guide map and here are some of the key stops.

1. Keep them clean

While braces are a great tool that work on natural teeth with no side effects, caring for braces is extremely essential in order to ensure that you don't end up with any post orthodontic dental work.

Braces be it metal or ceramic tend to accumulate food and in turn cause cavities or stains. A lot of people suffer from post braces unnecessary treatments only because they couldn't keep them clean.

2. Know what foods to avoid

Wherever you are in your braces journey remember when you started you were warned about a bunch of things you have to stop eating and drinking. That memory maybe fading away but the truth is the dietary restrictions need to be followed atleast to a certain extent if you want the braces off on schedule.

Foods like pizzas, sticky candies or biting into anything from your front teeth is a strict no as it'll cause the front braces to come off and besides interrupting the treatment you may also end up hurting yourself.

Sodas should be avoided as they cause the braces glue to dissolve and they come off your teeth earlier than we would want.

3. Bracket breaks

The system of braces is basically individual brackets that are placed on your teeth to move them and a wire that engages all these brackets together.

A common occurrence with braces is the brackets come off or break if you're not careful. When this happens it's like a derailing a machine everything comes to a standstill and its very important to get this fixed at the earliest for the treatment to continue efficiently.

Bracket breakage can be prevented by maintaining dietary precautions, efficient brushing and avoiding trauma to the face.

4. Be on the lookout for pain or blisters

Although less common now there's an occasional chance of slight pain or ulceration after braces are placed in the mouth for the first time. Our body is getting used to a large foreign object and it may react by rejecting the areas that hurt and forming an ulcer which may last a few days and settle.

The pain sensation of tightness and tooth movement can be eased with a mild anti inflammatory or pain killer on the first appointment if need be.

5. Don't miss appointments

Missing your regular dental appointment is bad enough but your orthodontic (braces) appointment is the most important day of the month for you. Skipping or missing this appointment disrupts the schedule of tooth movement and you may delay an already prolonged treatment procedure.

So if you want that brilliant smile be as soon as possible follow the steps above and you will breeze through your orthodontics treatment without a snag!