About

 

Kristin Good, RDH, M. Ed, QOM

Kristin earned her Associate of Applied Science and Bachelor of Science in Health Policy and Administration Concentration in Dental Hygiene from Pennsylvania College of Technology in 2005.  She then continued on to earn her Master of Education in Health Education from Pennsylvania State University in 2007.  She took the Orofacial Myology course in 2016 and did pass the written exam of the Certified Orofacial Myologist (COM®).  She completed her written and clinical components and obtained her Qualified Orofacial Myologist (QOM) in January 2020.  She is also a Public Health Dental Hygiene Practitioner (PHDHP) and is a Certified School Dental Hygienist (CSDH).

Kristin is a very kind, caring, compassionate individual who puts her heart into everything she does.  She attends many continuing education courses to keep learning as much as she can to stay abreast of new information.

My “WHY”

My reason behind why orofacial myofunctional therapy is so important to me is my son.  Because of the extra knowledge I have from my class work in orofacial myology, I was able to look in my son’s mouth and see why he was having such a hard time latching when he was breastfeeding.

Teddy’s story

Teddy was born on May 16th, which was a Tuesday, by Friday he was diagnosed with Jaundice.  He needed a Wallaby blanket to help his body clear the extra red blood cells that were not being able to be proceeded by his liver.   That is when the pediatrician recommended that we add formula because that was going to help clear up the Jaundice faster since he wasn’t latching correctly and getting enough food.  At the time though, I didn’t know he wasn’t latching correctly.

As a first-time mom, my gut told me something wasn’t right.  And as a new mom, you try to do everything right.  But when learning how to breastfeed and have my child latch, everyone was telling me that I was holding my child the wrong way which is why he couldn’t latch so they would recommend a different way.  But no one looked inside his mouth.

The symptoms I had included: nipple pain while nursing, he had a noisy latch, sore and cracking nipples, he would fall asleep while nursing and he feed for an hour for each feeding, 30 minutes each side.  Part of me didn’t know if this had to do with a possible complication from having a breast reduction.  But in June, which was a month later, I noticed that he appeared to have a tongue and lip tie.  This was later confirmed by a periodontist when Teddy was 6 months old.  He breastfeed for 4 months and then I pumped until he was 10 ½ months old.  I also noticed that when he would use a bottle, his upper lip would be curled under, which was partly from the lip tie.  Also, looking back at pictures of him breastfeeding, shows how hard he had to work in order to latch.  His face actually looks like he is in pain.  Teddy had his release on Nov 20^th, a month after he had it completed, I was watching him play in his one saucer and noticed him sticking his tongue out.  He was almost able to touch his nose with his tongue.  It made me feel great that I was correct in having the lip and tongue tie evaluated for a frenectomy and then having the procedure completed.

My hope is that by making people aware of this issue that they don’t have to go through what I went through.  If there is a problem, I can help get you to a provider that can do the release earlier than I had Teddy’s release done.  By having a frenectomy, it will put your child at better chances of not having health problems such as feeding problems or something severe as sleep apnea.

I look forward to helping you.

Sincerely,

Kristin Good