LB Research

Little Bird Pediatric Dentistry represents Dr. Alison Sigal’s vision of pediatric health care, pioneering a community based clinic that focuses on optimizing the growth, development and function of All children, from birth onwards. 

Bringing together clinical research and health care…

Dr. Sigal has created a comprehensive secure electronic health record (EHR) charting system at Little Bird that will allow for on-going research to be conducted.

What are the goals of our Little Bird Research?

  1. First and foremost, it will allow for our team to reflect and learn from the care that we are providing – striving to continually improve patient care
  2. The unique EHR system will allow for multi-variable searches to be conducted, to discover new relationships that will guide and support current and future practices
  3. Allow for pre and post treatment evaluation, patient feedback – measuring the impact of airway-focused health care and beyond
  4. Shared as an open-access resource to the public in various formats including open-access journals, the press and media, websites, presentations at meetings and workshops – with the goal for collaborative, multi-disciplinary learning
  5. Working with health care providers in the community to provide multi-disciplinary care and to foster relationships that can lead to improved care for all

Current topics of interest being evaluated at Little Bird Pediatric Dentistry:

1) Evaluation of a multidisciplinary approach to the identification and management of tethered oral tissues – TOTS (tongue and/or lip ties) in infants (12 months of age and younger) and children (12 months+). The impact of tongue ties on nasal breathing, optimized tongue rest posture, lip seal, growth and development.

2a) Evaluation of the relationship between tethered oral tissues – TOTS (tongue and/or lip ties) and infant colic and reflux.
2b) Evaluation of the success of tongue and/or lip tie releases and specifically the effects on infant colic and reflux.

3) Evaluation of the prevalence of mouth breathing and the corresponding treatment outcomes of Buteyko breathing re-education (nasal breathing) and myofunctional therapy.

Are you interested in becoming a research intern at LBPD?

Little Bird Pediatric Dentistry will offer research opportunities to students or interested individuals who would like to actively participate in our studies as research interns. If you would like to volunteer, please contact us by clicking HERE

Publications

Sigal, A.V. & Sigal, M. J., (2006). Overview of a hospital based dental programme for persons with special needs. Journal of Disability and Oral health. 7(3): 176-18

Sigal, A. (2009). Time to Improve Access to Oral Health Care for Persons with Special Needs. Journal of Canadian Dental Association; 75(7): 517-519

Sigal, A., Sigal, M. J., & Lam, E. (2014). The Importance of the Initial Comprehensive Dental Examination. Journal of Canadian Dental Association; 80:e45

Sigal, A., Andrews, P., Titley, K., et al. (2016). A retrospective study of stainless steel crowns as a posterior permanent tooth restoration. MSc Thesis Defense. Electronic access to full thesis: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/75122

Sigal, A., & Sigal, M. (2017) Oral Health and Function Chapter. Conscious Care and Support. Authors: Peter Marks and Gareth Marks. Publisher: Inclusion Press.

Titley, K., & Sigal, A. (2017) Editorial Feature: The Stainless Steel Crown Revisited. Oral Health Journal. January Issue.

Hingsburger, D., Nethercott, A., Sigal, A., Sigal, M., Bachle, S., and Wright, A. (2019). Tips to ease dental care. The International Journal for Direct Support Professionals. April-Volume 8 – Issue 4 (pgs.1-8).

Sigal, A.V, Sigal M.J., Titley, K.C., and Andrews, P.B. (2020). Stainless steel crowns as a restoration for permanent posterior teeth in people with special needs: A retrospective study. The Journal of the American Dental Association. February – Volume 151 – Issue 2 (pgs. 136-144).

Sigal, A. & Sigal, M. (2022). The Multisensory/Snoezelen Environment to optimize the dental care patient experience. Dental Clinics of North America. April – Volume 66 (2) (pgs. 209-228).

Sigal, A. (2023). Soothing the senses to improve the patient experience. Canadian Dental Association (CDA Essentials). Volume 10 (Issue 2) (pgs. 16 – 19. Online Link: http://www.cda-adc.ca/en/services/essentials/2023/issue2/16/

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