Healthy Sassy Smiles! Information About Healthy Dental Development

Wow, is this One Sassy Doctor’s husband obsessed with our kids having good teeth. Perhaps that’s because his late father was a dentist. Or perhaps he knows how healthy teeth create healthy smiles and reflect a positive projection into the world. Well, I married him for his glowing smile, so I suppose he’s right (lucky guy…).

Anyhoo … with tooth decay being the primary dental problem among children ages 2 to 5, we’re fortunate that it can be completely prevented! If we encourage healthy dental habits starting from the baby years (sassy baby years, if I may…), this will help foster positive habits and the healthy glowing smiles we want to see when they are all grown up.

Here are some One Sassy Doctor informational tips on healthy dental development—starting from birth!

One Sassy Doctor’s Interview with Speech Pathologist, Ms. Anne Freilich, M.S., C.C.C. Licensed Speech Language Pathologist

Speech and language is the pathway I entered the world of developmental toys & feeding products—and how One Sassy Doctor was conceptualized. My little guy has speech delay, and during a session with his speech pathologist, I came up with the idea for the U-Play™ Mat. So, the connection between writing this blog and interviewing a speech pathologist feels very natural. As a pediatrician, I really did not understand speech delay and development until faced with this as a parent. Language and speech development have become a special interest for me since, and I’m super excited to bring you this interview today!

Imitation is the Greatest Form of Flattery

It’s ridiculously cute to see a little one imitating mommy, daddy or an older sibling. It’s even cuter when the imitating is just a little bit “off”—for example, my daughter said “in the meantime”, and her little brother later said, “You are going to go into the mean time. Mommy why is time mean?”

Some little ones even imitate themselves!

And, believe me, my little one is certainly imitating my dramatic flair in this shot!

Juicy Advice From Our One Sassy Doctor

When it comes to juice, I draw a line in the sand. I am not the perfect parent (believe me!) and faced some juice challenges when my sons’ daycare served juice. So, this advice is not coming from someone who never gave her kids juice. My kids are heavy water drinkers, but have tasted juice (preferably watered down) at birthday parties and at daycare during meals only (and I limited it to once a day). However, none of them had a dose of juice until they were three years old. Not a taste. We made sure to stick to breast milk, formula, whole milk, lower fat milk and water at the appropriate ages.