Devastated about a cavity, please chime in!

[claddaghmom]

I'm sorry if this is the wrong place. I was just brushing DD's teeth and noticed that one of her perfect front teeth now sports a practical hole! This had to have happened in the last couple days.

I thought she had such strong and nice teeth but I know what it is! I have seen this b/c one of my sisters has it. It is that so called 'bottle rot' I am just sitting her crying. I remember when my sister first got it....over the course of a couple months it was as if her teeth melted away in front of us.

DD is only given water and mother's milk. And hasn't had a bottle since one time back at 4-5 months.


I am so stressed out. Is there anything I can do? What makes this happen? Why is this happening? I am so scared to see what will happen. Is there a way to stop it????

[kati_kati]

my DS has a hole in the front of one of his front teeth too. i know it's scary, but the dentist who checked it out actually said it wasn't a real cavity (yet) and that we need to brush and keep clean etc. sometimes there's a genetic weakness in the enamel. see a dentist and see what they say? it might not be as bad as you think. my DS only has breastmilk too.

[*~megan~*]

You are describing me this past weekend! I took DD to a ped dentist today and she has two cavities. They did blame it on the night nursing but I've been doing quite a bit of reading and I am not convinced that that is the root cause. The cavities are so small that we could opt to wait six months, but we are going to have them filled as right now the size of them does not require sedation or anestethic. The best piece of advice I got from another mama in a similar situation is to find a pediatric dentist that utilizes atraumatic restorative therapies. I have to say that I was really impressed with the dentist we saw today and feel comfortable having the cavities filled by her. Currently I am researching fluoride treatment as they were really pushing that, but I am not convinced that it is the best thing to do. I am also planning on trying to improve our at home nutrition a la Weston A. Price. Hang in there mama - it's hard not to freak out but it will be ok.

[claddaghmom]

I just feel really hopeless right now b/c my sister's diet was meticulous, she was EBF, no sippy cups or bottles ever etc etc. But for her it was closer to 2 years of age. It just happened right in front of our eyes. Out of 11 kids she is the only one who had this happen. Today she is 5 years old and has stubs for a couple front teeth. The rest were pulled because the decay extended beyond the gum line.

I am very unhappy at the idea of using flouride.

I feel so powerless.

[Peony]

There is a dental forum on MDC, it is subforum under Health and Healing. Now some children are going to get cavities no matter what, there is a strong genetic component to dental decay. Bottle rot is different then nursing caries. What happens in bottle rot is that they go to bed with a bottle and the formula drips in the mouth all night long causing massive problems over an extended amount of time. Even if there a nipple in a breastfeeding child's mouth all night long, it doesn't constantly drip milk, and human milk is very different then formula or cows milk. Breast milk can react with leftover food on the teeth and cause caries. Just doesn't she has one hole doesn't mean that all of her teeth are going to rot out.

I've done the same thing with the 2 kids of mine that have teeth so far, 1 has had 10 cavities by the age of 5, the other is 3 and nothing. Guess which one just has bad teeth? I've had 2 of her teeth break in half at age 6, we just fixed those. It is ok though. Her teeth are not rotting away, we just have to be extra careful with her teeth, she visits the dentist at least every 6 months, we brush and floss multiple times a day.


There are things to be done. Just the dental forum and you will find lots of info.

[Halfasianmomma]

Hi mama...my DD is 18 months old, has 16 teeth and 8 (count them, 8) cavities of varying seriousness. Needless to say that when I saw the "hole" in my daughter's incisor, I FREAKED and was in a pediatric dental office the same day.

All dentists will tell you that children's teeth need to be brushed from birth, but that no one knows about it until way later. The 3 dentists I saw all said it was due to breastfeeding. If that's the case then why is it that the millions of breastfed babies the world over don't ALL have cavities? I tend to think that DD's bad teeth are inherited from her father. One dentist mentioned the fact that DD got her teeth WAY early as a common culprit.

For my DD, we're going to have the "hole" filled in a procedure that doesn't require sedation. If the other cavities get any worse, I will take her for surgery to prevent the decay from worsening. The surgery itself lasts 90 minutes and it's under general anesthetic.

In the meantime, I brush DD's teeth in the morning. Her DCP brushes them after the morning snack AND after lunch. Then I brush after dinner. DD still nurses to sleep.

[claddaghmom]

Thanks everyone. DH reassured me a bit last night. A bit. lol. He pointed out that these are her milk teeth, not her pemanent teeth.

DD did start getting teeth at 3 months so maybe the earlier time frame does have an impact? I don't remember my sister's timeline...I'll have to ask.

But we do brush her teeth frequently, although I started out wiping them in the early months.

Sorry if this is in the wrong place. From what I can tell bfing does NOT cause this, but I thought b/c she is bf I should post here.