Category: Labs and X-rays
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The Case for Early Cholesterol Testing in Children
A pediatrician’s case for checking numbers before they become problems. Somewhere along the way, cholesterol became a “grownup problem,” like mortgages and lower back pain. Parents hear “cholesterol test” and picture their kid getting handed the same lecture their own cardiologist gives them at 55. But here’s the thing nobody wants to sit with: your…
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Understanding Children’s Dental X-Rays: An Are They Necessary Guide
This topic is so important it desrves a second blog. Every year, like clockwork, millions of American children get herded into a small lead-lined room, handed a bite tab that tastes like a pool noodle, and told to “hold very still” while a machine zaps their developing skulls — not because anyone examined them and…
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The Truth Behind Newborn Blood Type Testing: What Parents Should Know
Here’s Why We Don’t Care (Usually) Somewhere between “what’s her Apgar score” and “can I get extra pudding cups,” a lot of new parents ask the nursing staff a very reasonable-sounding question: “So what’s the baby’s blood type?” And somewhere in the hospital, a nurse smiles politely, says “we don’t routinely test for that anymore,”…
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Pediatric X rays, Your Dentist’s Real Priority? Their Wallet
As a pediatrician, I am increasingly concerned by how often dental X-rays are presented to families as routine rather than selective. Let me be clear: that is not what current guidelines recommend. The American Dental Association (ADA), along with the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, does not support taking dental X-rays on a fixed, automatic…