Unbottling the Truth About Milk Bottle Caries with Dr. Levi Sorenson

Welcome to the Dentistry for Kidz podcast. We are Angelina and Cameron and we love candy. Do you all love candy? We've learned how to enjoy all the candy we want without getting cavities or getting in trouble with our dentist wants to learn our magic. Join us discover how to enjoy sweets and have nice bright, clean, shiny white tea. Let's go

Welcome back to the Dentistry for Kidz Podcast. Today we have an absolutely fantastic guest lined up just for you. Picture this a young man grew up in southeastern Idaho as the oldest of seven kids goes on a religious mission to Nicaragua, and learn Spanish falls in love with Central American culture and that decides to channel all that experience into making dental care less intimidating for kids. Dr. Levi is a board certified pedodentist and the CEO of Sorenson, Pediatric Dentistry. And you know what's amazing when he stopped practicing dentistry, he's also the father of four wonderful girls and avid adventurer, a coin collector, a skier and yes, even a Lego enthusiast. His vision is to craft an environment that's calming, open, clean, educational, and wait for it. Fun for both kids and parents. Dr. Levis mission is as simple as it is inspiring to build personal relationships in a fun and caring environment, improved mental health. So let's not keep this amazing doctor waiting any longer. Dr. Levi, welcome to the show. Can you walk us through how your childhood and being the oldest of seven siblings influenced your career and kids dentistry?

Dr. Levi Sorenson: Yeah, thank you, Angelina. So yes, so I was the oldest, which means growing up, I got to take care of a bunch of my siblings as they were growing up, I got to play with them and, and spend time with them. And I got to learn how to work with kids, you know, get kids to do things they don't want to do. You know, my I remember my brother didn't want to put on his clothes, you know, so I'd have to learn how K, how do I get a little kid to put on his clothes when he doesn't want to? You know. So I think those were good experiences to know how to work with kids. Because, you know, kids are scared coming to the dentist. And so that's why we work hard to make sure that they have a good experience.

Oh, I see. So I guess I'm just curious, how do you make dental care fun and less scary for kids and your own kids?

Dr. Levi Sorenson: So I think the first the first thing we do, because I feel like kids are scared sometimes because they feel it from their parents. So what we do is we always, you know, we talked to the parents ahead of time to make sure that they can feel comfortable and they start off with having a good experience. And then that kind of goes to the kids as well. And the other thing that we do is we you know, we we've made a an office that doesn't look like a dental office. It looks we have a Lego theme. And so I think that helps the kids just to feel more comfortable. And, and not as scared when they when they come in. Oh, that's

great. Yeah, I've missed see your office sometime. I know you served a mission in I believe it's called Nicaragua, where you where you learn Spanish and immerse yourself in the culture. So I'm just wondering, how did your experience impact your approach to dentistry and patient care?

Dr. Levi Sorenson: So it was interesting. So in Nicaragua, that was the first time I met people that didn't really have access to dental care. So I remember I meeting a man who showed me how he had pulled out his own tooth. And he was he said, he was up in the mountains, and he had an abscess, and he was in excruciating pain. And so the only thing he could do was he had a hammer and a nail. So he put the nail in the fire to like, heat it up. And then he hit his tooth to like, knock it out. And he passed out and woke up like an hour later, and his tooth was like broken. And so, you know, to me that that was the first time I really realized the importance of dentistry we, you know, we just take it for granted because we have it, but we don't realize what life would be if we didn't have it.

Oh my gosh, I didn't even know that could happen. Oh, did you treat him after that? Or was it just like, well, so

Dr. Levi Sorenson: that was before I was a dentist? Uh huh. Okay, it was just the story. He just told me the story of his tooth.

So today, we're gonna be talking a lot about milk bottle caries. Can you explain what that is and why it's a concern for infants and toddlers and what's The Science between it. Uh huh.

Dr. Levi Sorenson: Yeah. So what happens is that milk itself doesn't cause cavities. But what happens when milk is in your mouth is you have enzymes that start to break it down into sugar. And if that milk sits in your mouth for too long, and breaks down into sugar, and then can cause cavities. And so that's why we recommend that, you know, after the kids brush their teeth at night, that they don't have any more milk to drink. Something else to go with that as well. So the same thing goes for breast milk, breast milk by itself doesn't cause cavities. But what happens when they start getting a little older and start having carbohydrates, then the breast milk, combined with carbohydrates can all of a sudden cause cavities, and actually cause a lot of cavities. So that's why they recommend as the child gets older, so you know, between 12 months and 18 months that they only have milk during mealtimes? And not like on demand, if that makes sense.

Oh, I see. That's very interesting. So I think I've just wondering how early can the milk bottle carry start? And what are some of the early signs that patients can look for?

Dr. Levi Sorenson: So I've had I've had milk bottle caries in kids under a year old. Yeah, and so what we what we notice on on that we find on their front teeth, we find white spots or yellow spots on their teeth is kind of what we see in the beginning. And then that can progress to break down until the teeth actually start to break down.

Okay, so this can really just be any age like it, you're not necessarily immune to it if you're super young, and that stuff, right?

Dr. Levi Sorenson: Right. You know, as far as the milk bottle carries, we see those in anywhere from like 10 months old to three or four years old, is typically the kids that are using a bottle or being breastfed on demand, which just means whenever they want it, and especially at nighttime, when the milk soaking over the A on the teeth overnight, then that will start breaking the teeth down.

Hmm, I see. So I know you already mentioned this point earlier, but I just want to make it pretty clear to parents. So any type of milk can really cause the problem, right? It's not just like, breast milk or a cow's milk, like almond milk can also do it. Right.

Dr. Levi Sorenson: Right. Especially there's almond milk that has added sugar. And that will definitely cause cavities.

I see. So would you recommend parents to buy milk without added sugars? Or just?

Dr. Levi Sorenson: Yeah, definitely, you don't want any added sugar to the milk. And then what you want to do is we just recommend the milk during mealtimes. I see. And I was just gonna say and then after you brush it night, nothing more to eat or drink after that.

I see. Okay, thank you. So I guess like, what other preventative measures can parents take to avoid milk bottle caries in their children.

Dr. Levi Sorenson: So the most important thing is coming to the dentist on time. So I hear a lot of parents and sometimes even dentists that say Oh, well, kids don't go to the dentist until they're three or five years old. So actually, the recommendation is six months from when the first tooth erupts. So that could be even as early as 10 months old. And we recommend no later than 12 months old. And the reason for that is obviously we want to educate the parents, because I think if the parents know, obviously, they're going to do what it takes to prevent the cavities. And then the other thing that we do we do our fluoride treatments, which also helps to harden the teeth and, and prevent cavities.

I see. So I guess Can you explain what a fluoride treatment is to the parents?

Dr. Levi Sorenson: Yeah, so fluoride is it's a natural element. And usually it's found like in in well water or in spring water, you know, natural water source had those and what it does is that it helps to hold the calcium in your tea so that your teeth can be resistant to cavities and be stronger. But what's happened now as we get, you know, in bigger cities, we don't have those natural water sources. And so we lose that fluoride sometimes they'll add it back into the water system, but at the same time we all have like filters and water softeners which take the fluoride out of the water. And so that's why we recommend the every time that you come to the dentist that you get that topical fluoride treatment, and it just goes on top of the teeth and soaks in through the top Have the teeth and helps prevent cavities.

That's great. Thank you so much for sharing. So I guess Are there any other treatment options that you do? And what do they exactly look like?

Dr. Levi Sorenson: Uh huh. Yeah. So what we'll do, you know, obviously, if, you know, we want to prevent the cavities from getting worse, especially on the little ones where, you know, we don't want to have to extract tea. And we don't want them to have pain or infection. So if they're very small, we'll do something called Silver nitrate, which is liquid that we paint on the teeth that has silver in it, and it helps actually, the silver sucks into the cavity, hardens, the tooth hardens the cavity and kills the bacteria. And that can slow down the cavity and until the child gets a little bit older.

Oh, that's really interesting. Thank you so much for sharing.

Dr. Levi Sorenson: Yeah, so the, you know, the silver nitrate helps to slow down the cavities and can give us some more time it does, it does teen black, it has a black stain. So sometimes that can be a concern for aesthetics. The other option is, you know, sometimes if they are in pain, sometimes we need to extract the tea. And then typically, you know, the other option to fix the teeth would be general anesthesia. And that typically we'll do two and older. If the kids have cavities, then we can do general anesthesia. And then use an anesthesiologist to have the child got asleep, and then we can fix all the teeth at that time.

I see. And there's no I guess the side risks or side effects are very slim, right?

Dr. Levi Sorenson: Yeah. So I know this is a misconception, misconception with general anesthesia. A lot of parents are afraid of it. But actually, it's the safest way to fix kids T. It's the most stable environment to do it. And also it gives them the best experience.

Yeah, that way. They're not screaming and pain when you're taking out their teeth. Yeah. So I guess, are there any other common myths or misconceptions that you would like to address?

Dr. Levi Sorenson: Yeah, so you know, I feel like you're going back to the general anesthesia. I feel like a lot of parents feel like, Oh, my child's too young for the general anesthesia, instead of understanding that the general anesthesia is actually for the young kids. That's what it's for. And then it's very, very safe.

Okay, so they have like a separate treatment for the younger age groups. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. So I guess, are there any foods that are like complete? No, for children?

Dr. Levi Sorenson: Well, I don't say I wouldn't say no, but I what I like to call is this first special occasion. So for instance, like candy, you don't get cavities from eating candy on Halloween, right? But you get you get cavities if you eat candy every day, or every week. And so we say Save, save candy for a special occasion, a birthday party, or a celebration like that same thing with soda, we wouldn't we wouldn't recommend drinking soda regularly because that can cause cavities. And then also, juice can cause cavities as well. I think that's kind of a misconception. People think, oh, it's natural, natural sugars. But the natural sugars can cause cavities, just the same as is any other sugar.

So at the end of the day, sugar is sugar. So they'll both do the same thing. Is that what you're saying?

Dr. Levi Sorenson: Yep. And the guidelines actually recommend what they recommend for juice is no more than half a cup of juice a day.

Oh, I see. Is there any juice in particular that's better? Or are they just all the same?

Dr. Levi Sorenson: They're pretty much all the same at the end of the day. Yeah. And that's for what that recommendation for half a cup of juice a day is for any child six years or younger?

Oh, okay. When they get older than six years, is that recommendation changed a little higher? Or is it like?

Dr. Levi Sorenson: Yeah, I mean, we just recommend, you know, obviously, you don't want to over drink it. But you can, you can have a little bit more.

Oh, okay. I see. Thank you so much. So I guess I know you mentioned this a little earlier, but I just want to retouch on it. So when should parents start thinking about orthodontic evaluations for their children?

Dr. Levi Sorenson: So, the what we recommend and again, this is the importance of going having your child go to the dentist every six months is because then the dentist as the child's growing up is watching that closely. So I would say in most cases, the best time to get braces would be when they have all of their adult tea which is around 12 to 13 Here's old on there. But there are some reasons, obviously, as you and your mom know where the child needs braces earlier, you know when there's underbite, or other crossbite, different things like that. And so, the guidelines for orthodontics, I think they recommend for children to, you know, get their first consultation somewhere between seven and eight years old, just to check that out and see when you know what the orthodontist recommends? I see.

So by the time by 10 years old, should a child keep seeing you? Or should they, I guess, like switch to a fancier person or something.

Dr. Levi Sorenson: So so it depends on the pediatric dentist. So pediatric dentists typically see kids anywhere between one year old and 18 years old, some pediatric dentists will, you know, they may, maybe because their practice or practices are full, or they just like specializing in a certain age, sometimes they'll only see up to six years old, or maybe up to 12 years old. At our office, we like to see our kids for a long term, we'd like to see them grow up. And so we'll see them anywhere from one year, one year old, clear up to 18 years old.

I see. So just very, it just varies from office office space. Yeah. Okay, I see. We're kind of wrapping this up. So just wanted to give you a few little fun questions. If you could be any dental tool, which one would you be and why?

Dr. Levi Sorenson: So I think I would like I think I would be I think I would be the handpiece. Yeah, just because it's, you know, I love the water spray that comes out of it vibrates a little bit, and then it just cleans out the cavities. So I think that's what I would be.

Oh, that's great. Do you work with the water tools a lot? Or is it?

Dr. Levi Sorenson: Yes? Yeah, I do on a

regular basis? Or is it like you get to switch it up every once in a while?

Dr. Levi Sorenson: Nope. Every every day.

And then I guess for our last and final question, can you share with us your all time favorite joke that gets the best laughs from your patients?

Dr. Levi Sorenson: So this is pretty funny. So this is what one of my patients told me so why was Tigger looking in the toilet?

Oh my God, why?

Dr. Levi Sorenson: He was looking for poo.

Oh my god. So yeah, yeah, that's pretty funny. But thank you so much for coming on again. Yeah, it was a pleasure talking to you and getting to learn all about it.

Dr. Levi Sorenson: Thank you.

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