Last month, Roseman University held its monthly free educational series – Neighborhood Health Series. The topic for October was Bolstering Oral Health in Patient Populations Including Those Medically Fragile: The Path to Healthier Mouths & Bodies.
The connection between oral health and overall health is well-documented, yet it often takes a backseat amidst other life and health challenges. Attendees gained valuable insights into the latest practices in daily oral care, cavity and disease prevention, and the importance of early detection of oral health issues.
They also discovered how our Roseman Dental Clinic, in collaboration with Cure 4 The Kids Foundation (C4K), provides specialized care for medically fragile patients, including those battling cancer, living with compromised immune systems, or managing complex medication regimens. Additionally, the session highlighted the tailored approaches used to address the unique needs of geriatric patients and individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Watch the full presentation below.
We enjoy sharing innovative, collaborative, and useful information with you! To view a full list of upcoming events or to register, visit speakers.roseman.edu.
Last month, Roseman University held its monthly free educational series – Neighborhood Health Series. The topic for February was Dental Health Month Double Header. Those in attendance enjoyed back-to-back sessions focused on dental health for adults, dogs, and children with specialized healthcare needs.
Part 1: The Benefits for Good Oral Health for Humans & Our Beloved Canine Companions
What do we know about the intersection of human and animal dental health? How can we maintain health and extend the life of our furry family members, through regular preventative dental health? Meet Dr. Thacker, Director of Roseman’s Dental Clinics, Program Director of Roseman’s AEGD program, and Associate Professor. Dr. Thacker’s military background, dental training, and love for animals come together with a compassionate and holistic overview of human and canine Dental Health. Meet Dr. Thacker’s dogs and learn more about how to care for your pet’s teeth.
Presented by: Dr. Matthew Thacker & his canine companions
Part 2: Mission Alignment: Cure 4 The Kids and Roseman Dental & Orthodontics: Treating Medically Compromised Patients with Specialized Care
Dr. Alice Chen, Pediatric Dentist and Associate Professor partners with Dr. Joseph Lasky, Oncologist and Medical Director at Cure 4 The Kids (C4K) to talk about how the Roseman & C4K missions align to provide coordinated, empathic, patient-focused dental care to children with cancer or other critical diseases. How is their care different and how do the two organizations work together to maintain health, prevent complications, and support the patient’s journey to health and recovery?
Presented by: Dr. Joseph Lasky and Dr. Alice Chen
We enjoy sharing innovative, collaborative, and useful information with you! To view a full list of upcoming events or to register, visit speakers.roseman.edu.
Roseman Dental & Orthodontics’ Dental 360° is now a quarterly e-newsletter. Each quarter you’ll receive a panoramic view of dental health. Dental health is key to your overall health and here at Roseman Dental & Orthodontics, we are dedicated to improving not only your mouth, but your whole self. At our clinic we have an excellent team of licensed dentists, orthodontists, orthodontic residents – 30 to be exact, and dental residents all focused on you and your family’s oral health. Roseman Dental & Orthodontics has been serving its community since 2009 and is a comprehensive, one-stop shop for all your dental needs including dental, pediatric, orthodontic and craniofacial cleft lip & palate treatment.
We hope you find Dental 360° helpful and informative. We look forward to connecting with you each month.
Our clinics receive calls from time-to-time from concerned parents when their child bumps their tooth against objects such as their crib, as one example. Sometimes the tooth can become a little loose and the gum tissue can look slightly swollen. When this happens, it is important to bring your child in to the dentist for an evaluation. It’s better to be safe than sorry as traumatic injuries can actually damage developing adult teeth even before they come in.
Dental traumas, unfortunately, are common among all children. Toddlers who just learned how to walk bump their heads and mouths all the time while exploring the world around them. As they enter preschool and elementary school, children become more and more physical and fall easily while playing. Even in tween and teen years, kids can injure their teeth through playing sports.
For baby teeth, what we’re mostly concerned about is the possibility of a dental infection which cause damage to future permanent teeth. Permanent front teeth develop at the root tip of baby teeth. If an infection starts to fester from the baby tooth, the inflammation can cause discolored, stained, or chipped enamel. Whatever damage that results may not be visually apparent at the time, but will show up at the age of 7 or 8 when permanent upper front teeth start to come in. Therefore, it is very important to have the baby tooth removed as soon as an infection develops.
It is essential for children to be evaluated by a dentist at the time of trauma then for a re-evaluation a few weeks later. At the initial visit, the dentist will take an x-ray of the area, take note of the degree of looseness, and tend to any soft tissue wounds on the lips and gingiva. Since it takes approximately 3 weeks for an infection to show up on an x-ray, the initial radiograph will just serve as a baseline image, something that the dentist can compare to at the re-evaluation appointment when a new x-ray is taken. If an infection were to develop it would often show up a few weeks later, and the dentist can remove the tooth during the re-evaluation appointment.
Fortunately, baby teeth tend to be very resilient. Sometimes color changes can be observed on the tooth in the few weeks/months following the traumatic event. Any changes in color would mean that the nerve inside is dead. However, as long as there is no infection, the tooth may very well stay in the mouth until it’s natural exfoliation time (time to fall out) with absolutely no problems. The tooth may also stay loose for a while. If this happens sometimes exfoliation will take place earlier than typically expected.
If you have any questions concerning dental trauma, please call our office:
