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Dr. Jill Jenkins on Tongue Ties, Pediatric Oral Health, and Whole-Child Wellness
Season 12 Episode 535
Healing often begins with the courage to ask questions—and the right guide to walk you through the answers. Dr. Jill Jenkins shares how pediatric oral health connects to far more than teeth, influencing everything from nursing success to sleep, speech, and even a child’s overall development. With warmth and wisdom, she explains how individualized care and a collaborative approach with other practitioners can empower parents to identify tongue ties and make confident decisions. Her passion is a reminder that small interventions early on can create ripple effects of wellness for a lifetime.
Key Takeaways:
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Understanding tongue ties and their subtle symptoms can help parents advocate for their child’s health.
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A multidisciplinary approach—including dentists, lactation consultants, and bodywork—leads to better outcomes.
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Early, individualized care builds a foundation for proper oral function and overall well-being.
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Parents’ instincts are powerful; trusting your gut can lead to answers others might overlook.
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Restoring oral function can positively impact sleep, feeding, and emotional connection between parent and child.
About Dr. Jill Jenkins:
With almost 20 years of experience as a pediatric dentist, Dr Jill Jenkins felt like there wasn’t a child she couldn’t help through her pediatric dental practice, Jenkins Dentistry for Kids. That was until 2 of her long term employees had infants with tongue tie restrictions, requiring frenectomy procedures. Without the proper training and equipment, Dr Jenkins had to refer her patients to another practitioner at a vulnerable time for the families who had come to trust her. So, after extensive coursework and in-person observation with one of the most renowned tongue tie pediatric dentists in the field, Dr Richard Baxter, Dr Jenkins is thrilled to now be able to provide frenectomy services to patients through the establishment of Midwest Tongue Tie Professionals. By utilizing the state of the art Lightscalpel CO2 laser and working closely with functional providers, Dr Jenkins is confident that patients receive exceptional care before, during and post-procedure to ensure not only a precise tongue tie release, but also the movement and functionality the release is designed to achieve.
Dr Jill Jenkins attended dental school and her pediatric residency at the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Dentistry and Children’s Mercy Hospital. After 15 years in her original partnership, Dr Jenkins pivoted to develop a practice based on her own patient and team centered philosophy to open Jenkins Dentistry for Kids with locations in Lenexa and Shawnee. She is also the owner and founder of Midwest Tongue Tie Professionals.
Dr Jenkins has served organized dentistry in many volunteer roles throughout her career, most notably as President of the Fifth District Dental Society of Kansas, President of the State of Kansas Dental Association and currently as Chair of the KDA Membership committee, member of the ADA Council on Membership, and as a Delegate for the State of Kansas to the ADA.
Dr Jenkins is a board certified pediatric dentist, and is involved with many professional organizations where she is a diplomate for the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, fellow of the Pierre Fauchard Academy, fellow of the American College of Dentists and fellow of the International College of Dentists.
She also received the Women Who Mean Business Award from the Kansas City Business Journal in 2017, where she continues
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