I hope everyone is having a fantastic summer!   What a busy summer Dr. Bloom Inc has had.  We are launching many new products and focusing on the health and safety of new products for our customers.   We have also had the opportunity to spend time with our friends and families, which I hope you all have done the same.  These two pictures are of  the sons of two the founders of Dr. Bloom Inc, who lost their front tooth simultaneously in the back seat of the car on the way to Disney. They were so proud!   We, as a family of dentists and a company focused on teething and the health and safety of teeth and bodies, cannot ever get away from teeth.  I wanted to tell those parents who have not had the pleasure of viewing a freshly extracted baby tooth, be prepared for the sight of blood. It may appear to be more than would make one comfortable, however, dental blood is mixed with saliva and appears to be more blood than it is.  Also, children never sit still long enough to keep pressure to clot a tooth socket.  Therefore, do what you can to have your child bite on a clean piece of gauze if available, if not, a tissue or napkin.  Talking about the tooth fairy coming that night and distracting our little patient may work to stop the bleeding.  Oh what fun it was to see them sticking their little tongues through the new void in their mouth!

Dr. Helen Bloom Smith

President, Dr. Bloom Inc.

Happy Wednesday!  I thought this week I would focus on the topic so many of us will learn more about and pay more for than we ever probably wanted to.  Although I spend most of my time focused on the research and development of our products that address teething babies, many of you parents have other children in braces or heading towards them.  I thought we could blog this week on the topic of braces and the specialty of orthodontics.

Although I am a general dentist, my father is an orthodontist.  I spent time at my father's office while my mother ran errands before or after our ballet class next door.  My five brothers and sisters took turns on different days "playing dentist" and sitting at my Dad's big desk in his private office.  Needless to say, this had a very important impact on my life.  Growing up around dentistry made it an easy choice to go into dentistry as a profession.  My brother Casey also went on to be a general dentist and my sister Bonnie went on to specialize in Animal Dentistry.

Orthodontics, a specialty in dentistry, focuses on the treatment of malocclusion.  The term malocclusion means "bad bite."

A dentist that specializes in Orthodontics went to two or three years of extra training to correct bites.  "Bad bites" could involve crooked, uneven, crowded teeth, or jaws that are too big or too small.  Most people think people get braces just to look better.  However, teeth need to be straight to prevent tooth decay or loss and provide a healthier environment for the gums and bone that hold the teeth in your mouth.

I had braces when I was a teenager.  I could not wait to get braces.  However, after a couple of months, the newness wore off, and then I went three years wanting to get them off.  I used to ask my Dad, "how long until I get my braces off?"  He would say...."when your teeth are ready."   In Orthodontics, the specialists use slow continuous force (pressure) on the teeth to move them.  Therefore everyone's case is different depending on the severity of the case, density of bone, and the individual.  These days, my Dad and other Orthodontists place small elastics that are multi colored and even glow in the dark!  Back in my day, the early 80's, we only had silver or clear to hold our arch wire on our brackets.  Now, kids cannot wait to come in for their monthly adjustments, so they can change out their colors.  At Christmas, green and red are obviously the hot colors.  Easter calls for pastels.  My Dad's "Goth" teenagers love the steel grey and black.  School colors are a favorite as well.

My father, Dr. James P. Bloom, DDS, an orthodontist who taught at the UAB School of Dentistry for 18 years, will soon visit our site as a guest blogger.  I am sure you will find it informative as well as entertaining.  Stay tuned!

President, Dr. Bloom Inc.

Happy Sunday!  I wanted to mention the average eruption cycle of baby teeth.  Keep in mind, with my three children, they have all varied on when they have gotten their teeth, some sooner or later than listed in an eruption chart.  I have made a basic summary of what you may expect to see in your baby's mouth over the next two and a half years.

The first teeth in the mouth to erupt are normally the front lower incisors.  These are in the front middle small teeth on the bottom that look sooooooo cute coming in.  They usually erupt at six months.  However, my son turned eight months yesterday, and still no teeth.  This is normal as well.  Soon after, the small teeth on either side on the bottom will erupt.  These are lateral incisors.  Before your child's first birthday, you will then see the top four teeth erupt, usually the centrals (middle top two teeth) erupt first.  However, my daughter did not see these until she was fourteen months old.  The one year or first molars come up next on the bottom, then soon after on the top.  The molars generally erupt before the canines so it will look like your baby is "congenitally" missing teeth.  However, soon, you will then see approximately at 1 1/2, the canines erupting on the top and bottom.  Finally at twenty months to two years, you will see the last back or second molars come in the top and bottom.  Then, right when your child starts to shed their baby teeth and erupt the permanent teeth, you will see the first permanent molars erupting in the back.  This usually occurs at six years old.  I have mentioned in earlier blogs that baby teeth are much whiter than permanent teeth.  Your child's teeth may appear to be coming in yellow.  However, once the permanent teeth come in, they will not appear yellow next to each other.  We also clinically refer to this stage of shedding baby teeth and erupting permanent teeth as the "Ugly duckling Stage."  Cruel, but your will understand once you see.  They will grow out of it!

Happy Mother's Day!  This Sunday is Mother's Day and I want all of you to know that we are running a special on our site for the entire month of May in honor of moms everywhere!  Click on our product page (www.chewablejewels.com) for your buy one get one free offers!  This is my way (from one mom to another) of saying thanks to all the moms out there reading my blog and visiting our site!

Teething fashion tips for Moms:

Yes, I did say teething fashion tips!  You might ask, how could teething possibly be fashionable for a mom.  I invented the original teething jewelry, Dr. Bloom's Chewable Jewels years ago for my sister and her teething twins!  Our company, Dr. Bloom Inc, sells the teething jewelry in many shapes and colors that moms can coordinate with any outfit.  They can wear accessories and look pretty with their new jewelry and know that it is safe for their teething baby!

Although we sell packs of three bracelets, try mixing the colors from one pack with other colors.  Here is a picture of one of my favorite color variations.

You can coordinate for all holidays as well!  For instance, Memorial Day and  Fourth of July are just around the corner.  For these holidays, you can purchase the red and blue bracelets and necklaces combination sets which come in multiple shapes and get coordinating matching bracelet packs for free for the month of May on our site!

I give these as gifts for friends that are new moms at baby showers and also as a baby gift at the hospital.  This allows me to give a gift for my friend and her new baby!  My personal favorite is the pink marble.  I love that color and so does my daughter!

President, Dr. Bloom Inc.