Dr. Jerry Lee Wender, DDS

Other symptoms include: snoring, grinding of teeth during sleep, mouth breathing, enuresis, restless sleep habits, night terrors, bad breath, grumpy and tired on awakening, limited attention span, crowded teeth, multiple ear infections, under developed maxilla, elongated lower jaw, high palate and the child frequently walking around with the mouth open.  This is why Dr. Wender is now taking a close look at your child’s tonsils.
New Guidelines Regarding Pre-med Antibiotics
The American Heart Association recently updated its guidelines regarding which patients should take a precautionary antibiotic to prevent infective endocarditis (IE) before a trip to the dentist.
The guidelines, published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, are based on a growing body of scientific evidence that shows that, for most people, the risks of taking prophylaxis antibiotics for certain procedures outweigh the benefits. These guidelines represent a major change in philosophy.
The …new guidelines show taking preventive antibiotics is not necessary for most people and, in fact, might create more harm than good. Unnecessary use of antibiotics could cause allergic reactions and dangerous antibiotic resistance.
Only the people at greatest risk of bad outcomes from infective endocarditis — an infection of the heart's inner lining or the heart valves — should receive short-term preventive antibiotics before common, routine dental and medical procedures.
Patients at the greatest danger of bad outcomes from IE and for whom preventive antibiotics are worth the risks include those with:
• artificial heart valves
• a history of having had IE
• certain congenital (present from birth) heart conditions, including:
- un-repaired or incompletely repaired cyanotic congenital heart disease,
         including those with palliative shunts and conduits
  - completely repaired congenital heart defect with prosthetic material
          or device, whether placed by surgery or by catheter interventions
          during the first six months after the procedure.
 - any repaired congenital heart defect with residual defect at the site or
          adjacent to the site of a prosthetic patch or prosthetic device.
• a cardiac transplant which develops a problem in a heart valve.
Smoking Increases Risk of Cleft Lip/Palate
According to a study published in the January 2007 issue of American Journal of Human Genetics, women who smoke during pregnancy substantially increase the risk of having a child with cleft lip/palate when both parents’ DNA lack a gene involved in detoxifying cigarette smoke.
Sugary Beverages Increase Chronic Disease Risk
Symptoms of heart disease and diabetes usually seen in adults are being found increasingly in adolescents, according to a longitudinal study published in the December 2006 issue of Pediatrics.  
Researchers from The Pennsylvania State University’s Center for Childhood Obesity Research, University Par, found that reducing the intake of sugar-sweetened beverages during childhood may lessen the risk of developing chronic disease in later life.  
Alison Ventura, MS doctoral candidate and one of the researchers on the study states, “Research on obesity and associated problems such as hypertension and type 2 diabetes has largely dealt with adults, but with increasing rates of obesity in children, we are seeing these problems at much younger ages.  Controlling weight gain and the intake of sugar-sweetened drinks may prevent a child from the risk of disease later in life.”