Do you take your children to the doctor once a year for a yearly exam?

Yep!!!  I take my kids and myself, I am very good about that.  And we go to the dentist every six months!!  Way too many people get really sick just because they never visited a Dr.  I am way too paranoid so I make sure we are on top of health.

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"We Need more Monkeys!!"

Right on the money with the checkups. This is really wordy but I really want to help for some unkown reason. In a nutshell:

1. Brush teeth morning/night and floss at least once 2. rinse after meals; especially after sugar and grainy carbs 3. use antiseptic mouthwashes 4. kick me off this computer so I shut the... and go brush/floss/rinse/gotosleep.

The mouth (nose and eyes) is an interesting little place that technically isn't 'inside' the body but in some places is only 1 little cell membrane thickness away from literally being INSIDE the messy red goo of your bloodstream!

Once in there, bacteria are more than happy to do what all living things would like to do at least once ...(according to that catchy song "You and me baby ain't nothing but mammals"...and The Discovery Channel) and that is procreate!

This is why 80% of oral bacteria (strep among the most well known) live on the 'gag zone' on the back of the tongue. (There is a great video on Yahoo answers)

I can't stress enough the importance of oral hygeine at least in the morning and  after dinner (especially following sugars and carbohydrates such as grains like rice, bread, potatoes, and pasta) where enzymes in saliva DIGEST the leftovers and leave bacteria poo behind. I thought it was a dog or something but nope.

Now this is crazy: So b/c strep is ALWAYS there, if it's not kept in 'check' with brushing/flossing  /tongue scraping/ antiseptics, it can cross into the bloodstream (septic) and latch on to the smooth heart valves causing them not to seal properly (heart murmor). This is irreversable without surgery. This is very common and strep symptoms (white tongue, sore throat, swollen lymph glands under the chin) will go away after several days though leaving the heart damage forever.

Yellow teath and plaque buildup of course lead to lonliness via bad breath and lack of teeth ala  gingavitis and not to mention cavities ESPECIALLY if you drink unflourinated H20 ie: spring water or charcoal filtered water. Andy Rooney of 60 minutes has a funny little video here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/13/60minutes/rooney/main939291.shtml 

Finallyand scariest of all: these bacteria are to believed to be a leading cause in the progression of Artherosclerosis leading to the #1 & #3 leading causes of death

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Hi

Wow! That was an indepth reply. One of the reasons I always take my kids to the doctor for yearly check ups is to that they'll go as adults. Screenings for major life illnesses occur at check ups when we're adults. I'd hate for my kids to not know the importance of a yearly check up and skip out on them when they get older.

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Old Glory

I think that's definitely true for boys. As women, we have to go for a yearly exam in order to get birth control pills. But, guys don't have to go for any specific reason. If it's a habit as a child, it's much more likely to happen as an adult.

I definitely think it's a good idea. If the doctor doesn't have a record of your child's hemoglobin, weight, height, heart rate, etc. when he or she is well, a change may go unnoticed when the child is sick. If changes go unnoticed, a life threatening disease can sneak in.