Meet The Dentist event at Polished Dental, Pittsburgh.

We had an AMAZING event last week at our office, if you didn't get to stop by - here's a little sneak peek:

We invited local Pittsburgh moms to stop down with their kids to learn about starting dental health. How? When? What do we use? These were some common questions. Here's a little bit of what we learned:

When Do You Start To Brush Your Baby's Teeth?

As soon as you see a tooth pop up, you should be brushing your baby's teeth! Once a tooth shows up, milk and food start to stick to it, especially when you give a bottle right before bed. They make little baby toothbrushes you can put on your finger and gently stick in their mouths to brush.

DID YOU KNOW - YES! It is possible to get a cavity on a baby tooth. And guess what, that means we have to drill it - trust us, you DON'T want to have to do that.

When Should You Bring In Your Child For Their First Dental Appointment?

Once they have teeth! The younger they are, the easier they will adjust to coming to the dentist. If you wait until they are 4 or 5, they may be more afraid and it can be a scary experience. Dr. Joey usually has the parent sit in the chair and hold the child/toddler for the first few times to get them comfortable and adjust to being in the bright lights.

Are Pacifiers Really Bad For Your Teeth?

They can be. Dr. Joey recommends kicking the habit (that includes children who suck their thumbs) before the baby teeth fall out. Once their real teeth start coming in, pacifiers and thumbs can push teeth to grow in crooked! Yikes! (Permanent teeth usually come in around ages 5-6).

What Toothpaste Should You Use?

There are lots of different toddler/baby friendly brands out there - but we recommend a natural toothpaste, like Jack 'N Jill. Toddlers have a tendency to swallow more than spit out the toothpaste, so you want to make sure what they are ingesting is safe and natural. Be sure to look and see if it contains fluoride, you don't want your child to consume too much!

Give me that toothpaste!

How Can You Get Kids Excited About Brushing Their Teeth?

There are lots of fun games and activities for teaching kids to brush their teeth! One of our favorites is to take Play-doh, Mega blocks and some yarn. You push some of the Play-doh around the blocks (teeth) like plaque! Then you have them "floss" it out with yarn, showing them how they need to clean out food bits leftover in your teeth when you eat!

You can also have fun with food! We had the kids construct apples with peanut butter and marshmallows to make edible smiles!

Overall, we had a great time, and thank Dr. Joey for sharing his knowledge with us!

Do you have a question about kids for Dr. Joey? Want to make an appointment to bring in your baby or toddler? Call the office today at  412-281- 3546 or email us at polisheddental@gmail.com !

10 Tips To Be Successful On Facebook:

written by Socialminded Media Group intern, Claire Belizidsky

Everybody thinks that being successful with Facebook is easy, but this social media platform takes more than just posts to conquer. Below are 10 rules to be a true Facebook Guru: 

1.     Define your goal with Facebook. Even if you can’t measure your ROI in dollars, you will build relationships and remain top-of-mind with your existing followers.

2.     Plan a commitment, like 3 posts/week.... and stick to it! Having an editorial calendar can help keep you organized and on track. Also, tools like Hootsuite let you schedule your posts in advance and more than one at once!

3.     Decide what image of your brand you want to portray, and be sure that your posts are always connected with this image.  

4.     Share pictures and videos as much as possible, they have a better engagement with users than just text. And make them REAL photos of you when possible - not stock images (like below!). People can connect with you more when they see into your world. 

5.     Like and comment on the posts of your community. But when you comment on a post, be sure to add value, so people reading it will want to follow your page. 

6. Be Familiar With The Facebook Terms of Service (TOS)

If you are going to giveaways or contests on your page - be sure to review the Facebook TOS first. You can find your page shut down without notice if you violate a rule. Yikes! Also, terms are always changing, such as cover photos dos and don'ts. Visit Facebook to learn more https://www.facebook.com/policies.

7.    42% of Facebook users, the first reason why they decide to unlike a page is irrelevant content, so be relevant ! And for that, understand your audience well: Think about what your followers will want to share, and analyze what they like the most in your posts. Using the Facebook Insights for this can be a valuable tool. 

8.     Respond quickly to the comments on your posts, questions, or private messages.

9.     It’s normal to share with your community blog posts, news articles, pictures.. but always give credit where credit is due! If you use someone's photo, be sure to credit them, and as always NEVER use photos just googled from the internet. (read up on copyright infringement rules here). 

10. Tell people where you are! It sounds basic, but are your social media links in your email signature? Newsletters? Website? Business card? Make sure to be available for your audience.