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1974 Maple Hill St. |
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Pediatric Dentistry For Infants, Children, Adolescents, and those with Special Needs
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Another recent tragic news story was the unfortunate death of a young child due to neglect in treating an infected tooth. A cavity is a true bacterial infection in your child’s body. Although it is very, very rare, if left untreated it can spread causing pain, swelling, and yes even a life-threatening situation. The treatment of dental decay is so easy that this situation should never occur. Whether it is too busy a schedule, fear of treatment, or a financial situation, cavities should not be left untreated. Call our office and we can work out some way to give your child a clean and healthy smile!
I can’t say enough about the benefits of Dental sealants for the Permanent teeth. Sealants are a thin, plastic coating painted and bonded on to the chewing surfaces of the back teeth. They are a good way of protecting the biting surface of a tooth from ever getting a cavity. Our back teeth, called molars and premolars, have very deep grooves where food, bacteria, plaque and sugars can get stuck. The sealant protects this groove so the sugars won't break down the hard surface of the tooth and form a cavity. Getting sealants put on is simple and painless. They are painted on as a liquid and hardened with a special light. We use a tinted white sealant so they blend with your child’s teeth yet can be checked at your child’s recall visit. Sealants generally last for several years and they have been proven to be successful at reducing cavities in children for over 20 years.
There have also been several stories in the news recently about deaths of children due to sedation at the dentist office. Treating a “difficult“ or “uncooperative“ child in the dental office is always a challenge. There are two schools of thought on how to handle this issue. One way is to sedate or place the child under general anesthesia to complete the work. An alternative approach (which I prefer) is to use some form of physical restraint to avoid the use of sedation. Although I have experience with both methods, I have not utilized sedation or general anesthesia in over 20 years of private practice. During my pediatric post-graduate training, I performed many sedations and procedures under general anesthesia at Beth Israel Medical Center. The chance of a child undergoing permanent damage or dying from these procedures is minimal, but does exist. Every year in this country, there are a number of children who die under sedation or general anesthesia for dental treatment. I cannot comfortably rationalize putting a child’s life at risk for dental decay. Instead, for the past twenty years, I have been very successful treating unmanageable patients in my office with the use of a papoose restraint complemented with 2 well-trained team members assisting during each case. We allow the parent(s) in the room and with the use of a papoose restraint and mouth prop, all the required restorations are completed in one visit. Nitrous oxide analgesia, topical and local anesthesia, is used to very safely complete the required treatment. I have performed thousands of cases in this manner. Several of my best and cooperative patients, who are now grown, were treated with a papoose when they were younger. I feel very confident and truly believe that we are providing the safest and best possible care for these “difficult“ patients that cannot tolerate conventional treatment.
I thought I would take some time to highlight two vital members of our dental team who do so much to make your children feel comfortable and at ease in our office; our super dental assistants Patrice and Jennifer. Patrice has been a part of our team for over 4 years and though you will usually find her as Dr. Jeff’s chair side assistant she helps out all over the office. Great with calming the anxious child and just as comfortable chatting with the child that loves to come here, Patrice is a wonderful part of our dental team. Jennifer has also been in our office for over 4 years and primarily helps our great hygiene team with X-rays, sealants, set up, sterilization and keeping the flow of the office smooth. One of the main reasons your child is almost always seen on time at our office is Jennifer’s hard work and dedication. She is always busy helping someone and is also a vital part of our dental team. When you are here in our office with your children, be sure to give a thank you to all our staff for their help and hard work. I know I do and I know it helps to make our office such a great environment for your children
We are making it more convenient for you to communicate with our practice!
We will now be sending appointment reminders via email, text messages to your cell phone, pager, or PDA. Please provide us with your current information and have one less phone call to answer!
When you receive a message by e-mail, click the icon provided for confirmation. Confirm as soon as you receive the first message, and you're done! The other messages will simply be reminders.
We look forward to meeting all of your dental needs!
With Care Credit you can choose to pay your bill in either 6 or 12 payments without any interest charge. This program is paid for by our office and you can fill out forms either on line with this link http://www.carecredit.com or when
you come into our office.
ALERT! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR CHILD IS DRINKING! 
For several years, there has been an increase in dental decay with the consumption of many popular “sports“ drinks. The sports drink issue (which includes soft drinks as well) has been well documented in both dental and medical literature. These drinks not only pose a dental health risk but also a medical health risk; contributing to the increasing statistics in weight gain and diabetes for children and adolescents today. To further complicate this matter, there is now a bigger problem…. The usage of many popular “ energy “ drinks by children as young as 9 and 10 years old and the concomitant alarming medical and dental results. These beverages are not only loaded with sugar but have high amounts of caffeine and can be very acidic. I continually encourage parents to be aware of the health issues associated with their children consuming these beverages. Parents are often unaware of their child’s dietary habits until we observe a dental complication and decay. It is only then that many parents become aware of their child’s beverage consumption. Please talk to your child and watch what they are drinking at home, at school and on the field! Remember, the old adage, “YOU ARE WHAT YOU DRINK”!
ARTICLE IN "WESTCHESTER PARENT"
We are very excited with the publication of an article by Dr. Jeff in the November 2005 issue of Westchester Parent magazine. The article is entitled, "Pediatric Dentistry- A Primer". Please feel free to read it.
In order to make the best pediatric dental care more accessible to families, we have revised our policy on insurance benefits. You now have the option to pay in full at your visit (and receive a courtesy discount!) or you can pay your approximate co-pay and our office will wait for your insurance reimbursement. Once we receive the check from your insurance company, your family will then be responsible for any unpaid balance. In either case, our office utilizes the latest electronic claims technology. This allows insurance reimbursements to arrive to your home in 7-10 days or to our office in 2-3 weeks. Please visit our FAQ section or call our office for further details.
We are thrilled to announce the addition of the Scan X Digital Imaging system to our office. This system is a revolutionary new product designed to replace traditional X-ray films. It uses phosphor storage plate technology with computer enhanced digital images. This gives us better diagnostic quality while reducing X-ray exposure to your child by up to 90%. Using this digital imaging technology along with our Diagnodent cavity detecting laser puts our office at the forefront of available diagnostic technology for your child. It is just another example of how we put both you and your child's concerns and safety first.
Both Dr. Jeff and Joanne Casali-Yusko (one of our excellent hygienists) have spent many enjoyable hours visiting schools and community groups this February for "Dental Health Month". They have met with hundreds of happy faces. Dr. Jeff has been doing this for the past 23 years and loves to visit. If you have or know of a pre-school, day care center, kindergarten classroom, or play group that you would like a presentation from Dr. Jeff or his staff, let us know. We believe that talking about dental health is important EVERY MONTH of the Year!
With today’s technology and recall exams, more and more cavities are diagnosed when they are very small and easy to restore. That is why it is so important not to miss recall exams and cleanings for your children. 80-90% of our patients are seen every 6 months while 10-20% requires an exam and cleaning every 3 months. Recall visits should never be more than 6 months apart. A small cavity can become a big toothache, and a big headache, in a very short time!
At our diagnostic recall exam we utilize one of the greatest break-throughs in new dental equipment technology, the Diagnodent. It is a small laser which scans teeth with harmless laser light. Diagnosing cavities beneath the hard surface of a tooth has always been a difficult task. The disease process begins with microscopic defects in the outer hard enamel that quickly spreads into the softer tooth structure beneath the surface. X-rays and manual probing with an explorer are limited in detecting early hidden decay. The Diagnodent allows us to locate small decayed areas and treat it before it destroys tooth structure. In this procedure, a pen like probe glides over the tooth. A number scale and alarm signals the signs of hidden decay. We can complete many restorations without the use of local anesthesia...no shot and no numb feeling with this new advancement! Most important, this tool is completely safe and pain free! This approach is a giant step forward in helping us to achieve our goal of providing your children with the best possible experience in our office with optimal dental healthcare.
I wanted to remind everyone about our “First Tooth- First Visit“ program in our office. This is a complimentary well baby visit for a 6 month to 2-year-old baby at the time their first primary teeth are erupting into the mouth. We do an exam and go over hygiene, diet, and prevention of decay. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) just released a study that showed tooth decay in primary teeth among children aged 2 to 5 years old has increased over the past ten years. We constantly see babies and toddlers as young as 6 months old with caries and infected teeth. We hope this free well baby visit may hope to control this early disease process.
Toothprints is a safe dental identification imprint of your child’s teeth. The advantages of Toothprints are it accurately and quickly identifies a child in an emergency situation. It is an easy technique that is performed quickly in the office. It is a heated wafer that your child bites. The wafer is placed in a sealed bag for the parent to store as an identification registration of the child. The remaining saliva on the wafer provides for DNA testing at any future date. The wafer can also be used for scent tracking by trained dogs. We hope that such an item will never be used by any family in our community, however, it is a beneficial and non-invasive method for finding and identifying a child if needed. Please ask about it at our front desk.
We have initiated a “message on hold “program in our office. We hope you are never placed on hold for too long when calling our office, but at times we get so busy at the front that you may have to hold on for a few minutes. If that does occur now, you will hear various facts and information about our office. Please let us know what you think of this new addition and any suggestions you have to improve it. Thanks!
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