On the second half of a 2-part interview, Rachel & Amanda interview Dr. Jared Evans of KiDDS Dental in Liberty Lake.
According to the KiDDS Dental website, growupsmiling.com, “As a Spokane area pediatric dental office, we strive to meet the unique needs of children. Our children’s dental programs include being committed to family-centered oral health for infants, children, adolescents and special needs patients.”
Follow KiDDS Dental on Instagram and Facebook, and check out their high-visibility ad on the Pediatric Dentistry page of the SBR Directory!
Here are some highlights from our interview with Dr. Jared:
1:48 – It’s just a tug of war. Are you getting more calcium into your teeth or are you losing calcium too much?
5:08 – If you’re going to [use fluoridation], it’s a nutritional choice, but it’s using it at the right dose. We don’t want too much, too little does nothing, but if you get it at the right amount – WITH plenty of calcium, vitamin D, all the things you need from proper nutrition – it does have a positive impact on the developing teeth. So once all of your permanent teeth are in, you tend to not necessarily need… the fluoride supplement, you just need fluoride on your teeth but it goes both ways. The fluoridation has its greatest impact while the teeth are developing.
9:08 – You breathe best when your tongue is hitting the roof of your mouth … keep your mouth closed, breathe through your nose. It’s creating a seal. If you have a tongue tie, try to hold your tongue down to the bottom of your jaw and try breathing. Its hard! That’s when you’re probably having the coordination issues – feeding/breathing issues – and not getting the right seal for a baby to latch, to eat appropriately.
12:09 – We are blessed here in Spokane that we actually have a maxillofacial team, and it’s based out of Sacred Heart [medical center] … And it’s great because the team can meet with the patient all at once and plan out the course of what might be a year’s worth of treatment in one visit, versus the patient needing to see all of these specialists. Or an overwhelmed parent trying to find the resources to do all of that.
18:38 – The sum of everyone together is a far greater outcome.
18:50 – It’s interesting because Spokane has bragging rights just in improving general children’s dental health nationally. Because Spokane was the birthplace to a program called Access to Baby and Children’s Dentistry … it is called the ABCD program.
21:09 – We started in 1995 and less than 20% of kids who were Medicaid eligible were being treated, and now we are well past 60%.
24:49 – It’s kind of a large clinic and very open, and that kind of goes along with my feeling – we don’t have anything to hide and everyone can see what’s going on.
28:46- We are here to serve the community. We see pretty much all dental insurance that I’m aware of.
29:15- When you look at the patients we serve and how that demographic fits with the community, Spokane is about a 50% Medicaid population. In ours, we reflect our community and to me, I think that that feels good that we treat everyone well, and the same. All of that is administrative stuff more for the front desk and when they get back to me, I’m the dentist, everyone is the same. Everybody’s got teeth.