Ep. 17 | The Crucial Bond Between Oral Health and Brain Health in Children with Autism and ADHD

This episode is an intimate exploration of why keeping those pearly whites healthy matters more than you might think, especially for our little ones. Dr. Valerie Mukanga from Healing Wings Dental joins us to shed light on pediatric oral care, focusing on children with ADHD and autism. Together, we navigate through practical tips and strategies to make dental care less daunting for kids and parents alike. 

Brushing aside myths and fears, we get to the tooth of the matter on fluoride, its role in tooth enamel fortification, and the right time to introduce it to your child's dental routine. The discussion branches out into the realm of innovative dental tools designed to engage and assist children with special needs. These tools are not just gadgets, but lifelines for parents striving to engrain healthy habits in their kids from the get-go. 

Today's conversation is like flossing through the intricacies of sugar's impact on oral and brain health, with a special focus on dietary considerations for kids with autism and ADHD. It's a refreshing reminder of water’s role in diluting the harms of sugar-laden beverages and nursing bottle syndrome. We round off with pearls of wisdom for parents. Dr. Mukanga, it's been an honor to have you lend your expertise to our listeners; your insights are a guiding light for parents on this journey. Remember, folks, a solid foundation in oral care is not just vital for a sparkling smile, but for a thriving, healthy brain.

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If you want to schedule an ADHD/Autism appointment for your child, you may contact Glow Pediatrics:

• Phone: 405-871-5807
• Fax: 949-695-2681
• info@glowpediatrics.com

🌐 Website: www.glowpediatrics.com
📱 Instagram: @drhokeheeko / @glowpediatrics
📧 dreko@glowpediatrics.com
👍 Facebook: Dr.HokeheEko / glowpediatrics
💼 LinkedIn: hokeheeffiongmd

And join our Glow Health Circle! Weekly coaching calls for a close-knit community of like-minded parents, to get practical strategies for your child's whole-child well-being — from brain and gut health to navigating the environment. Let's thrive together!

Transcript

Dr. Hokehe Eko: 0:25

Hello parents, welcome to another episode of Brain Power with Dr Eko. I have a special treat for you today. Her name is Dr Valerie Mukanga and I'm gonna let her introduce herself, but Dr Valerie is an amazing dentist and a great friend of mine, and I can't wait to hear all the wisdom she has to share with us. So welcome to the show, dr Valerie.

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 0:49

Thank you so much, Dr Hokehe. Thank you so much for having me today.

Dr. Hokehe Eko: 0:52

So tell our listeners all about your amazing practice and how you help both parents and children with oral care.

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 1:01

Okay, so I'm Dr Valerie Mukanga. I am the owner-founder of Healing Wings Dental, where we help people of any age maintain or regain their health, oral health that is. I'm a general dentist and our office is located in Dallas Fort Worth area. So I say that we help children and adults and that's befitting of the question you asked me. How do we do that? So we see people from any age, starting at six months, especially because Medicaid facilitates and our office does take Medicaid, so it actually gets people to start seeing a dentist at six months, because at about six months is when, in general, children will start having their first teeth erupting. So we do that. And we also see adults up to whatever age they are. So we say a hundred plus and so we go do treatment, from preventative care to just any type of restorative care that they would need Wonderful.

Dr. Hokehe Eko: 2:04

So, parents listening from Dallas Fort Worth area there's your dentist. Go see her. But let's dive into what we're going to talk about today Oral care for children with ADHD and autism as well. So I know I hear a lot in my office about parents saying that their children don't like to go to the dentist. What are some ways that we can encourage patients to come see you and what are tips that you give parents to help their children who are afraid of coming to the dentist?

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 2:33

Okay. So one of the tips is, first of all I'm going to address myself parents, because there are a lot of parents who would have had anxiety and they themselves are anxious as far as going to the dentist. We see so many people who come to the office and they sit down. You say hello, and it's like I hate the dentist, that we see so many people who come to the office and they sit down. You say hello and it's like I hate the dentist. That's something we are all too familiar with and I kind of downplay it many times and I say, well, I'm not scary, am I? And they're like, no, it's not, it's just any dentist. It's like, no, I understand, but one of the reasons why people may experience anxiety could be because they had experienced a traumatic event when they went to the dentist, maybe when they were young or even when they were older.

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 3:16

So with that they have internalized that anxiety and fear and unknowingly they may pass that down to the children, right? So I would say, try to overcome your fear and one of the greatest things that you can do is to bring your child to see a dentist as soon as possible. That's as far as it's going to foster a kind of routine for the child where they know what to expect. That goes with any children, but especially with children with disability, adhd or even autism, right, because they want to do things on like a routine basis so that they know what to expect. That's what I would advise a parent as far as taking a child to a provider, whether that be a physician or even a dentist.

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 4:02

But another thing that they can actually grab hold of is to start actually their oral hygiene routine as early as possible with their children. So initially, even when the children do not yet have teeth, they may take like a wet cloth and after feeding, kind of wipe their gums because they still like gunk that stays in the mouth. But once they start having their first teeth, if you see teeth, that is definitely a surface that needs to be brushed. So there are many tools that can be used. You can use like a, maybe toothbrush, or they have like needle brushes that you can put on your hand and start like brushing those areas. And yeah, so the more you get them used to oral hygiene, the earliest you do it, the better they're going to be acquainted with the whole procedure.

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 4:52

And so, yes, don't be discouraged, because children will cry. Most children cry, they don't cry, and so if you see that your child's crying, don't let it break your heart, they do that. The good thing about it is that when they cry, that means that their mouth is open, so you can actually do the job well. And so, yeah, that's one of the things. Don't just look at the fact that you are brushing your child's teeth and they're just like throwing havoc or like having a tantrum.

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 5:19

Just try to do the best you can. It's better for you to try to do the best you can than not to.

Dr. Hokehe Eko: 5:25

Amen to that, because we all know that cavities are harder to fix than if we just prevented it in the first place. And I want to go back to something you said in the beginning, that the fear of going to the dentist probably stems from we, the parents. Right, and so I want to encourage parents change your thoughts around. I hate going to the dentist. How about you? Think about it? Why is the dentist actually important?

Dr. Hokehe Eko: 5:51

And this is something I share with my kids. I ask them where's your brain? And then they point to me and I say where's your mouth? And then they point to you and I say which way does your blood flow? And a lot of times they get it right that the blood flows this way, right? So I say you know, if you don't brush your teeth and you have a booboo in your mouth, way right. So I said you know, if you don't brush your teeth and you have a booboo in your mouth, then guess where all the stuff is going Right here. You know I'm the brain happy pediatrician, so anything I can do to prevent this from not feeling good is what we're going to do, which means we need to take care of our mouth, because whatever is going on with our mouth will eventually end up in the brain.

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 6:28

Honestly, doctor, that is such great advice that you're actually sharing with your children and even with your patients, because there is truly like a correlation between oral health and brain health, oral health and your heart. I have a sad story that I decided to share. Often, my uncle, who was my mother's younger brother, came right after her. He had a cavity, ended up having an infection, and that was back home in Congo, because I'm from the Democratic Republic of Congo and we don't really have the habit of going to see a dentist right. When he finally went, the pain was just too atrocious. He went to see a physician. However, it was really late, because that very day when he got back, he ended up having a stroke and he actually passed. He passed the same day.

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 7:16

So when you're talking about having a boo-boo in your mouth, that ends up in your brain, it is not frustrating Like. This is what can truly happen Doesn't happen often, but does happen. I thought they were just like not wanting to tell me the true story about what happened to him, but truly, truly, it's when I ended up in dental school and when we learned those correlation that I understood that it was actually a true story. So, yes, it's very important. There's definitely something a link between your mouth and your brain, and taking good care of your mouth will also see that your brain is well taken care of as well.

Dr. Hokehe Eko: 7:51

Yes, yes, thank you for sharing that story and my condolences to you for it. On your own, but that is so true? Yes, because we often take it for granted that, oh, we're just going to eat, we're not going to brush our teeth and we're going to go to sleep, and all that stuff just sits there and percolates, and yeah. So, parents and kids, if you're listening to this, it's so important for you to take care of your mouth, because your mouth houses so much right. Where would we be without our mouths?

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 8:23

That's really important.

Dr. Hokehe Eko: 8:25

Right, we wouldn't be able to eat.

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 8:27

We wouldn't be able to smile, we wouldn't be able to speak. We would. Just what would we?

Dr. Hokehe Eko: 8:32

That's a true question Right, so I wanted to ask you what's your take about fluoride?

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 8:38

Okay, so fluoride is really good and I know that we have come to an era where there's all this information about fluoride is not good and it can cause cancer and all those kind of things. Honestly, the ADA there's not been any solid research that is saying that there is definitely that link as far as bringing cancer or being traumatic.

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 9:03

However, there's lots of advantages with using fluoride, because it's going to help you have your teeth being strengthened right, so it makes your enamel stronger, which is why the reason why it's really well advocated, and especially with the, the children that you are taking care of, because of many things like maybe the medication that they're taking that is well coated with sugar so that it can taste better, or because otherwise it tastes really nasty, or, you know, just like the habits that they may have, or me being maybe like forgetful or not brushing for a long period of time, as they are too maybe forgetting to brush, and maybe the parents are already so stressed out trying to manage that they are not truly able to go in there mindfully to get the job done. Fluoride would be very beneficial because it's going to help you as far as like strengthening your teeth and kind of like lowering down or slowing down the process of getting cavities. I would say definitely a bluff. However, you want to be mindful of when you start introducing the fluoride to your children, because when they're too young, they are not able to spit out, they're swallowing everything Fluoride.

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 10:17

When you ingest too much, it's going to give you a tummy ache. It's going to hurt your stomach, but also if you ingest too much of it, it can even like change the color of your teeth. So you want to be mindful when the child is so young they cannot yet spit you want to definitely give them training toothpaste that does not have fluoride. But once they are able to spit out, then definitely start introducing fluoride. You don't have to like overfill your toothbrush. Piece size is good enough so that they get enough of the fluoride in the oral cavity.

Dr. Hokehe Eko: 10:54

Okay, and so I hear from a lot of my thank you for that. I hear from a lot of my patient's parents about the struggle with brushing. Are there any specialized, like toothbrushes, that parents of children with ADHD or autism can use to brush their teeth adequately at home?

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 11:13

Yes, so they have some three-sided toothbrushes whereby when they brush, it hits all the surfaces of the teeth at once, so that they don't have to, because some of them don't really have the manual dexterity so that they can be able to do a good job. Some of them are not going to have the attention span to do it for the whole two minutes. So there are many different things that have been introduced. You have a three-sided toothbrush where they're brushing and is going to actually brush the outside surfaces of the teeth next to the cheek, the one next to the tongue and also the chewing surfaces. That's going to help children a lot and parents can use that. They have some type of mouth proper or mouth block that helps your child keep their mouth open so that the parent can go in there and get the job done.

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 12:06

They also have electric toothbrushes, which you can start introducing after age three, and that's going to help you because then they don't have to do so much of the job.

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 12:17

They position the toothbrush in the right position and the toothbrush is doing the job for them. Plus, the advantage of that too is that they have some electric toothbrush, have a timer, so they know that okay, they will be turning on the toothbrush and they will know that once the beeper goes off they are done. But if you don't have that, you can still use some small timers. That's going to help the child know. Or you can even play a song for them that is worth maybe two minutes and while they're brushing they can know that when they're done is when the song is done. So there are many things that they can also use. And because slossing is also essential, it's more than likely going to be very difficult for them to use the string, but they can use these little slossers and, kind of like get between their teeth so those are kind of like some things they can use yeah, they also can use as far as not just the toothbrush even the toothpaste.

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 13:15

Some of them may have a difficult time adjusting to, maybe, the taste of the toothpaste, so they also have, like, some toothpaste that do not have any flavor and that can be easier on the children. So you want to kind of like gauge out and kind of like play and see what works best for the child.

Dr. Hokehe Eko: 13:35

Yeah, I'm going to get a list of those resources from you to send out on a show note so we can help parents figure out what to get. Thank you for that. So what's one last tip for parents and kids? I like to ask everybody to give a brain health tip for both parents and kids. What would you like to share?

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 13:58

Before I dive into that, may I please talk about something that's very important and that's a tip as well. Before I go into the brain tip parents need to be mindful of what they actually feed their children. I know that I had lots and lots of conversation with you as far as children with autism and even ADHD, and you're talking about how sugar is actually causing more traumatic outcomes for them. Well, it's also tied in. As far as oral health. Everybody knows, who are well-versed into oral health or slightly versed into it, that sugar is a big culprit as far as, like, bringing on cavities and so many dental issues. So you know nutrition is very important and whatever is beneficial for what you're talking about as far as helping children with autism and even ADHD, there's the same type of food. Decreasing very much the content of the sugar that they do take also will help the children. So be mindful of what you are giving them as far as what to eat and even what to drink, because juices and things like that is going to cause a lot of problems for children and even with babies, when you breastfeed or even when you feed them, there's this thing called baby bottle syndrome or nursing bottle syndrome, whereby it's not just the bottle that you give, but even when you're nursing your child. The milk actually has enough sugar in it to start causing cavities. And the thing is like many times at night when you're feeding your child they might be feeding or nursing and while they sleep they will have like part of the milk that they have not really swallowed. That's just lingering on the teeth right there and just pulling the teeth and that can cause cavities on children, and when that happens it's often very generalized. I remember my younger brother when he was a baby. He had these two dots on his teeth and I didn't know what it was. It's only when I went to dental school that I realized that's what it was. He just had cavities and we didn't know. We thought maybe it was just stains. So one of the tips would be to actually also have a bottle of water and actually have them drink the water, because it's going to wash out like the last sip of milk that kind of lingers on their teeth and try to give them lots and lots of water. I know, especially in the US, like children do not tend to like water a lot, but I think that if you start them early they won't know any better.

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 16:33

Another tip would be for parents to encourage their children by brushing with them. If the whole family is brushing together, then they'll be like, oh, this is what our family does, you know. And get them on a routine to know that they're going to be brushing and dressing in the morning and at night. So they know, okay, this is what we do in the morning, this is what we do at night, and also we know that we also go to the dentist at least twice a year.

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 16:57

But a good thing also with children with autism and ADHD, if the parents are able to. I know that some of them have insurance and the insurance only covers maybe two visits a year. However, if they have Medicaid, medicaid would up until the age of three. They would actually encourage the children to go every three months. But if the parents are able to go more often and they can afford it, I would say, definitely do that.

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 17:24

And then when you, if you have a child with disability, you want to maybe like have the parents go and visit the office prior to and just doing nothing, so they kind of like observe and know what to do if the doctor will allow them to do that and also should tell, to tell them this is what is going to happen, what to expect. But ask also in the office if they do see children with autism. Do they see children who have disability, so that, if they don't, maybe look for one? That would that we're not wasting time and you actually get someone that's not going to be like, well, we can't take care of, why you have maybe like left work or gotten the child out of school and all that. So that's what I wanted to add.

Dr. Hokehe Eko: 18:10

Thank, you so much. Oh, my goodness, thank you for adding that in. That just made it so much richer. Everything you said is so important Absolutely, and I like the fact that you encouraging parents to start at as early as six months and even the tip about if your child is on Medicaid, you can go more often until the age of three. That's really good for parents to know that as well. So the oral health is connected to brain health. What do you have for us? So my brain tip.

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 18:42

I actually have two tips, in fact. One of them would be sleep enough. Try to get yourselves and the children to get enough sleep, and I should take my own advice because we are like you have to do this, you have to do that, you have to do that and you don't sleep enough. So try to really sleep enough. That's going to help your brain develop well and even function well. But another tip now, as we're talking about the link between your mouth and your brain make sure you take care of your oral hygiene.

Dr. Hokehe Eko: 19:17

It's going to help you as far as having a strong brain. Thank you, dr Valerie. This has been so helpful, and so tell parents again how they can find you for your services.

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 19:28

Thank you so much. So I am Dr Valerie Mukanga once again, and we have a dental practice called Healing Wings Dental located in Arlington, texas, which is in the green area of Dallas-Fort Worth, texas, and so our address is 4101 West Green Oaks Boulevard, suite number 317, and our zip code is 76016. And our zip code is 76016. We can also be called in our office at 972-213-0202. And on social media, we can be found by typing Healing Wings Dental on our handles Facebook, instagram, linkedin, youtube. But we also have a website where you can request an appointment for you or for your children, and the website is www. healingwingsdental. com.

Dr. Hokehe Eko: 20:18

Yes, please go check her out. She's amazing. So thank you so much again for coming on. We're so honored to have you and love all the amazing tips you shared with the parents today.

Dr. Valerie Mukanga: 20:30

Well, thank you so much, Dr Hokehe, for having me. I appreciate you.

Dr. Hokehe Eko: 20:33

Yes, of course. So, parents, I hope you got as much out of this as I did and please share this with somebody, a parent that you feel needs to hear this information. And until the next time, be well, take care of yourself, because you know you're the best parents for your children and blessings. Take care.