Dependable Dental Care at Growing Smiles

From the decorative angel wings embracing the side of Growing Smiles Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics in St. Clair Shores to the welcoming atmosphere inside, this local dentist’s office brings more than a biannual teeth cleaning to the community.

A prize tower, games, music and movies and even a personal introduction to the staff  — every detail has been carefully chosen to make each child comfortable and the experience as enjoyable and nonthreatening as possible.

“As much as people may think, ‘Oh yuck the dentist!’ I think it’s a pretty fun atmosphere and kids leave pretty excited, actually, so it’s not a dreaded thing at all,” said Kristy Slanec, Community Relations.

“It’s fun and lighthearted, believe it or not. It’s one of those things that we have music playing and they’re smiling a lot and they sing songs to the kids. it’s really an upbeat but yet cozy feeling, too,” she added.

And, per the American Pediatric Association and the Dental Association both national and state, “it’s never to early to come in,” Slanic said.

“I think that a lot of parents think they should wait until all the teeth are in and bring them when they have a full set of teeth. And I think a misconception we’d like to clear up is the earlier, the better.”

A team of pediatric dentists and hygienists are ready with tools in hand to bring specialized care for every need for infants and teens up to 18 years of age. Each of the four Growing Smiles Pediatric offices also has an onsite orthodontist. At the St. Clair Shores location, Doctor Angelique sees both children and adults, allowing for easy, in-house communication for any orthodontic needs.

“What sets Growing Smiles apart form other dentists in Grosse Pointe and the surrounding communities, is we are one of the only offices that specializes in pediatric dentistry.

“Our hygienist also have a ton of pediatric background prior to coming to our office, all of them worked in pediatric offices, so they’ve only worked with kids in all their careers,” said Kristy Slanec, Community Relations.

In an additional effort to allay any child’s apprehension or questions surrounding dental care, Growing Smiles has a team of qualified instructors to visit schools where they conduct a fun, 20-minute educational program for students. Some of the activities include identifying healthy snack items or “happy” and “sad” food, as well as dressing up like dentists, hygienists and teeth.

“We dress them up like teeth, in pillow cases, and we take a jump rope as floss and the kids love it. And I think again, because it’s a visual that they can understand. It’s educational, but again it’s fun and you feel the atmosphere of our office there too. 

“Kids are just so smart, it’s amazing actually. Even though they are learning, they love it. I think what our huge thing is and what we’re trying to do in the Grosse Pointe community and even in the communities of the other two offices that we have is getting out there and educating kids as young as possible. 

“So like the preschools are our key audiences, because if they’re that young and they are learning, they going to have life long, wonderful habits. That’s the goal, get them educated, get them excited about taking care of their teeth, knowing what to do and know that if they come in we have a prize tower, we have events going on, but that it’s not going to be scary,” Slanec said.

As well as healthy habits, Growing Smiles gives a good example to its young patients by participating and launching numerous fundraisers to support organizations and members of the community.

Last Halloween, the four Growing Smiles offices organized a candy drive for the troops, exchanging a pound of patients’ candy for a dollar. At the St.Clair Shores location, those dollars went to support a young resident named Payton Shock battling a rare form of bone cancer. She’s now on the mend and next year’s beneficiary has yet to be chosen, but Slanec says they hope it can be as personalized.

“If there’s someone in the community that needs the help, we’d love to do it again… hopefully we can continue helping someone,” she said.

In the mean time, the office is participating in this year’s University Liggett School Raffle. Any raffle ticket stubs can be brought into the office for a chance to win two tickets to the Justin Beiber concert. Details can be found on the back of each raffle ticket.

The office is accepting new patients and anyone interested in scheduling an appointment or an education-related visit to their school can call 586-800-GROW or visit the website: www.growingsmilespd.com.

Published in Grosse Pointe News