CLW and dental issues - Page 2

[mama2toby]

We have also had problems with this. My Ped dentist asked if I was sick during my first trimester, since that is when the teeth form, apparently my ds has very weak enamel. For awhile we were doing an electric toothbrush (cleaned very well), flossing religiously, re-mineralizing paste, oxygenated olive oil, and fish oil. We were trying to avoid fillings but in the end had to get some. I love our dentist though, filled all the teeth without even using any numby. A prior dentist wanted to give anesthia and 5 caps, so look around as opinions seem to vary greatly. Weaning at night was never really an option for us, my ds was (is) so very attached to his milky.

[PlayaMama]

i've heard that about m/s too.

i was so much worse with dd, i lost at least 15 pounds during the first four months, and i totally feel like that is part of the problem.

plus, her teeth are worse than my ds.

[Livviesmom0207]

I'm another one that doesn't believe that night nursing causes cavities, but it is the ONLY culprit I can think of at the moment.

DD nursed LITERALLY from 11p-7a non stop for about 7 months. Her front 4 teeth started to show decay around that time. I night weaned her at the time (not for dental reasons).

She now needs crowns on the front 4 teeth. It's either get the crowns or risk her losing her front 4 teeth, which I am so not ok with. The dentist suggests waiting until closer to her 3rd birthday, so I think we're doing them in November (she will be 3 in Feb). We're doing composite crowns in the office, I refuse to put her under GA.

At the moment, we're brushing twice daily, I am painting those 4 teeth with flouride rinse and she gets xylitol spray and candies. FTR, all the rest of her teeth are strong and healthy.

[granola_mom]

DD just had her dental work done yesterday and while I'm SO relieved this is taken care of, I'm really nervous that it will happen again! Not only for my DD's sake, but because her work yesterday cost 3.5 grand!

[Kristin0105]

What MI paste do you use and where do you get it????????

[PlayaMama]

i bought my MI paste from ebay, they had the cheapest prices i could find. i bought the original because it didn't have any fluoride but my dentist said the amount is really small in the "plus" formula and that it would be fine for her teeth.

i'll buy the plus formula next time.

[eirual]

We were going to have DS's teeth capped at 2y.o. thinking it was in his best interest, and decided not to- I'm glad we didn't. His two teeth (either side of his front 2...the ones before the canines) have decayed and are about half gone at this point....the rest of his teeth are in fine shape (aside from a brown line across his front two teeth too...the first 4 came in like that- streaked with a brown horizontal line across of them).

DS is now 3.5 and the decay has slowed down considerably, and knowing he made it this far, I'm hoping we can make it another couple of years until the teeth fall out naturally. The dentist was surprised with how little they've decayed in the last year and glad we didn't do the procedure. We do xylitol when we think of it, night nurse (though do our best to brush regularly before bed), and I do what I can with diet and making sure to put something like cheese or xylitol in the mouth after a sugary treat if he has one.

Anywhoo....decay doesn't have to be the end and necessarily mean surgery. The dentist when we first met gave us a rx for antibiotics but was otherwise comfortable waiting given that they only time it becomes an issue is if the teeth decay so much and become infected. We've never had to fill that rx because though decayed, they've NEVER hurt DS or caused infection. He does icecream and cold stuff and brushes them without a complaint EVER it's quite amazing actually.

So, if you feel you can wait, perhaps waiting out the storm is a reasonable sol'n and only acting if you really need to?

[eirual]

Oh, and as for the real purpose of this thread, I don't think it's the night nursing that's to blame. My dentist said that bottles are the only issue because of the pooling, and given my history I really do think it's genetics and nutritional.

I was a vegetarian for 12 years before I got pregnant and throughout my pregnancy, I was horribly sick throughout pregnancy (for 8mos), had bad teeth as a kid (though my adult ones are fine) as did DH. I really don't blame night nursing at all, and even if it was the culprit it's too darn right for the both of us to give up.

[Mama.Pajama]

Originally Posted by PlayaMama

we also do raw milk and cheese (tons of cheese- the alkalinity is supposed to be good for teeth), mi paste, xylitol mints and gum and gel, clo and butter oil, i brush all the time and we do bone broths about twice a week. i also use a fluoride toothpaste (i feel fine about topical versus ingested) with xylitol.

Okay so what is MI paste?
I did not know that about cheese! That's really cool, especially since DS ( DH and I too) is a cheese-aholic.

I'm taking DS to a second pediatric dentist appointment, because at his last one, she told me to come back if they chip any more, and one of his front teeth is noticeably smaller, i.e. has chipped more.
I want to avoid dental surgery or procedures on my LO (20 months old), but then again, I don't want his little teeth to chip to the nerve either! Poor little guy got his daddy's bad teeth genes.