Child Safety is No Accident
From their first crawl, children are prone to accidents. Dental injuries may be more common during those early adventuresome years, but the risk to teeth doesn’t diminish as children grow older.
The best way to avoid dental injuries is to anticipate them and take precautions. Here are some guidelines that may help parents, grandparents, teachers, and childcare providers prevent dental injuries to children:
- Protect children from falls which can lead to dental injuries. Put safety gates across stairways to keep toddlers from falling. Keep doors and drawers closed and floors free of objects that children could trip.
- Match toys with the age of the child (softer toys with younger children) to discourage misuse. Dental injuries can occur when children are hit in the mouth with toys that are too heavy or too big for them.
- Protect toddlers from electrical burns by keeping outlets covered and cords out of sight or disconnected. A plugged-in extension cord that’s not in use can be especially attractive since the receptacle end of the cord is small enough to fit in a child’s mouth.
- Make sure older children who are involved in contact sports use mouthguards.
- To avoid injuries related to auto accidents, use approved car seats for infants and toddlers and be sure older children are secured by seat belts.
Because children are curious and unpredictable, you may not be able to prevent every accident. But by taking certain precautions, you can decrease the likelihood that a child in your care will suffer a dental injury.
Dr. Angela Burns moved to Austin 10 years ago and instantly fell in love with our beautiful city. Dr. Burns is originally from the Texarkana area. She attended Texas A&M for her undergraduate degree and The University of Tennessee Health Science Center for her degree in dental surgery (DDS). Dr. Burns is committed to providing her patients with gentle, technologically advanced dental treatment. She attends an average of 60 hours of continuing education every year. She is a member of the American Dental Association, the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, the Texas Dental Association, and the Capital Area Dental Society. Dr. Burns and her husband, Gary, have an 11-year-old daughter, Sydney, who is a proud 6th grader at Hill Country Middle School. She is also very involved in the Eanes PTO, her church, and loves raising her family in the Westlake community. “Growing up, I was drawn to mediating and helping others feel more included and less anxious. I was a camp counselor, student government officer and being the oldest of five, I was the family mediator. I found that I had a calling to help alleviate stressful situations for others and realized that being a good listener was something that was key to this. These skills really helped guide me into becoming a dentist that has based my practice on relationships, empathy and a sense of comfort. I knew that I wanted to provide an atmosphere that felt like home when others walked in. Our practice is small, personal and state of the art and we hope you feel like you’re hanging out with friends when you are here!” When she is not practicing dentistry, Dr. Burns enjoys traveling, hiking the greenbelt, enjoying Austin’s music scene, and eating Amy’s Ice Cream.
