please help me be well informed..

[MamaFern]

im not sure if i feel guilty or not but i have 3 kids, almost 7, 4 and almost 2 and none of them have been to the dentist. we brush with fluoride free toothpaste, don't eat much refined sugar and have a generally healthy diet.
but my son has now lost 2 bottom teeth and one that has grown in is begind the others and the other is growing in front to back, rather than side to side. its obviously a problem. i have always known that his teeth were crowded, but i was hoping that as he grew it would get better, but he is still very small for his age and his jaw is small. i need to know what to allow the dentist to do. im not sure x-rays are needed but i know that they will push them. im not 100% against them if they are for an important reason(but how do you know?) but their dad is really really against it and i have to respect that.
then, do i let them pull teeth if thats what they think? im just so not sure about dentistry but im not willing to be bullied into anything im not comfortable with so i want to know exactly what i want them to do before i get there.

my 4 year old has 4 bottom molars that have black spots in the middle. its been over the last year that they have appeared. do i allow them to drill and fill, and what with? can you let cavaties be in children's teeth? i know that cavaties can be healed, but we brush often, chew xylitol gum and they are still there. i have a history of bad teeth in my family.

i dont want the floride for them and im not sure about tooth coating. i had heard that they use natural tree resin in some dentists but i have no idea about there people. they seem rather old fashioned.

any suggestions or help would be very much appreciated.

[weliveintheforest]

Hey Fern, I don't know much about dentistry but here are my thoughts anyway!

I took Cora to a cranio-sacral therapy (wanted to do more but am broke) because I've read it can help with narrow palates and teeth spacing. Do you know anyone who could do that with E? Or is he too old?

For N, I would just focus more on bone broth, the raw milk, and maybe add butter oil if you can. I know you already give her fish oil. I read a book called Healing Tooth Decay Naturally and it was interesting, maybe your library will order it in. I think if they are just tiny black spots you don't have to rush.

My kids saw a dental hygenist at the family place one time, and it was reassuring. She told me I don't brush enough and that my kids should quit grazing, but I took that with a grain of salt since she didn't know it had been 24 hours since they had brushed Anyway, she didn't see anything really bad. She tried to talk me into the flouride, also telling me that it was from tree resin but I declined. I do think the tooth coating is much better than ingesting it in water or toothpaste.

[JaneS]

Teeth coated with fluoride resin is absorbed gradually because it wears away.

MamaFern: your son with the small jaw is not getting enough nutrients to enable his body to grow to genetic potential. We are all meant to have wide jaws and wide palates to hold our teeth growing straight. The body first takes away from the face and palate and jaw to spare nutrients for the skeleton which is first priority.

We can often see this in each successive generation. Sometimes it's so very clear that the grandparent's teeth are straight and jaw and face are wide with prominent cheekbones and strong jaws but the next generations' face and jaws narrow and weaken as more processed foods enter the diet. It's amazing to know this and take a look at the people and children around us.

As the previous poster said, foods with very high fat soluble vitamins and minerals are the key ones as we discuss in Curing Cavities with Nutrition thread.

Don't feel guilty we could all feel that way! Now we know better.

[Talula Fairie]

Imo, the longer you avoid the dentist the worse (and more expensive) it's going to be when you finally go. And yes, eventually you will have to go because the pain will finally get bad enough.

Your teeth and gums can effect your overall health in profound ways. I have a fear of the dentist and avoided going even though I knew I had problems brewing. I finally went and found out I had a gum infection, three or four possible root canals, and a cavity on virtually every tooth in my mouth. Don't let it get to that point. Go to the dentist. Take your kids to the dentist.

I also avoided going to the orthodontist becuase I couldn't afford it. Now I have severe TMJ and am in pain almost every day.

Oh, and I have a good diet. I don't think it's true at all that you can prevent cavities with a good diet. The only thing that prevents cavities is good oral hygine, and that includes regular visits to the -guess what?- dentist.

[Chamsia]

To find someone you can trust, search "holistic dentis" and "biological dentist" for someone near your area. It may be a little more expensive. That is a big deal for me, but I shell it out anyway. These dentist accept a holistic, non-flouride, non-x-ray happy approach. And if something invasive needs to be done, they will approach it in a less terrible way.

If I were you I would take my kids to the dentist pronto. Oral health really affects overall health, and you want your kiddos to have their best start possible for a lifetime of good health.

Best wishes!