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Author
Links Success to Milford Connection
By Julia
Cooper
The Milford Weekly
September 10, 2004
Former New Haven resident Sheila Wolf
has accomplished a great deal over the course of her life.
She has worked for the last 33 years as a dental hygienist,
starting out her career in Connecticut and continuing now
in San Diego. She has traveled to places both far and near,
working on a Kibbutz in Israel and teaching in a one-room
schoolhouse in Kentucky’s impoverished Appalachia. Her
most compelling accomplishment, however, is also her most
recent.
‘If I can teach a mother how to
save a baby’s life or how to save her baby’s natural
teeth for life, that is what really matters to me,” Wolf
said.
Wolf published her first book, “Pregnancy
and Oral Health: The critical connection between your mouth
and your baby” in June of 2004. While the book is
a first for the author, it is also a first for the industry
and would not have been possible without the presence of a
certain person in Wolf’s life.
“My mother taught at Central Grammar School,”
said Wolf. “I observed how easy things seemed between
my mother and her students, and how much respect they had
for her. I made a decision at around 11 or 12 that I would
also become a teacher.”
Wolf’s mother, Nora Wolf Pollock taught
in the Milford School system for 16 years. Pollock is now
retired in Florida, leaving her plenty of time to “swim
and recreate,” according to her daughter. It was that
time spent in Milford, though, that really rubbed off on Wolf.
“I remember conversations I had with my
mother about how the Milford School system gave their teachers
a lot of room to be creative in their teaching methods. I
am discovering that I too select situations in dental hygiene
that allow me to be creative and innovative in my approach
towards education.”
Wolf’s book reflects that view. Called
a “holistic” approach to gum care, her book teaches
mothers-to-be the proper way to clean the mouth and gums in
order to prevent gingivitis, which can lead to much more serious
concerns during pregnancy.
“A mouth with infected gums is a
conduit for germs to spread all over the body,” Wolf
said. “Bacterial infections in the mouth can affect the
heart and respiratory systems.”
In a pregnant woman, this can result in pre-term
and low birth weight babies. As a matter of fact, women with
gingivitis are seven times more likely to give birth to a
premature baby, which in turn creates an entirely new set
of problems for the mother and her newborn. Wolf’s holistic
approach to mouth care, however, can head these problems off
at the pass.
“It is so important for people to
know that gingivitis is a bacterial infection,” said
Wolf. “If you have a finger infection, you don’t
cut the finger off, you use antibacterial treatments. It is
the same in the mouth and that means brushing, flossing and
irrigation, not surgery.”
Wolf is currently at work on her second book,
“Your Mouth Could be KILLING
You,” which is geared toward all segments of the
population. More information about Sheila Wolf can be found
at www.mamagums.com.
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