My daughter has 7 cavities *need help*

[swsoup]

We just took our 7 1/2 year old daughter in for her annual dental check-up (last visit was 14 months ago). We found out she has 7 teeth with "surface decay" (2 are molars). The dentist wants to fill them with amalgam and he wants to seal the molars. We drink raw milk, make homemade yogurt, eat pastured eggs, bone-broth based soups, grass-fed beef, raw veggies & fruit, soak in the sun when we can, etc. We have used natural toothpastes during the past year, some with, some without fluoride.

I asked the dentist our options (like not filling the teeth) and he recommended fill them. We have a 9 1/2 year old with no cavities (and I only have two). Our 9 1/2 year old has lost all but two baby teeth, so I'm wondering if we could do the "watch and see" approach and hope that she loses these baby teeth without the decay spreading to permanent teeth.

If we fill them, I will opt for composite fillings and he wants to do it in two phases.

Is it too late - do we really have to fill these? They aren't hurting her at all. Do we have any options? What 5 things would you recommend?

Thanks in advance.

[talia rose]

i did wait and see with my son who is now 17. i naively thought since they were his baby teeth they would fall out before things got too bad. he has now had 28 cavities filled and a root canal at age 12. it was horrible!!!! i would try to do composite fillings.

[zinemama]

I would fill them. That many cavities is nothing to mess around with, and you really don't want your kid to have to go through root canal or worse. The cavities may not hurt now, but untreated decay can lead to serious medical problems.

Your diet probably has nothing to do with it. A lot of dental problems are genetic. Your kid just ended up with the teeth that get cavities easily. My kids are similar to yours: the 10yo has perfect teeth and the 7yo had 3 cavities at the age of 3. His teeth just happen to be slightly pitted, giving decay a good foothold.

[tanyalynn]

I can't judge whether you need to fill now, or wait. I do think that supplements often can/should play a role, even with a good diet. I didn't read that you supp vit D--have you done a blood test on anyone in the family? Unless you have a seriously outdoor life, and aren't too far north, it's difficult to get enough D w/o a supp.

I wouldn't just hope the baby teeth fallout--in my view, the environment is allowing decay, and even when new teeth come in, it's still the same environment. I think that's worth work even if you decide that you do need to fill these teeth with composite.

Here's a discussion, with references besides Price, about diet and tooth decay.

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.co...oth-decay.html

I'd go a step further and consider supplements. I think they've got a place and a useful purpose.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

I would fill and then seal all the new teeth as they come in. At her age she should be able to sit with nitrus and numbing meds and do very well.

[swsoup]

[QUOTE=I'd go a step further and consider supplements. I think they've got a place and a useful purpose.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the suggestions. Specifically, are you thinking fermented cod liver oil and butter oil?

Also, I had vitamin D checked and it was 56.

Thanks again,
Teresa

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by swsoup

Thanks for the suggestions. Specifically, are you thinking fermented cod liver oil and butter oil?

Also, I had vitamin D checked and it was 56.

Thanks again,
Teresa

I'd go beyond that. Price's argument is lots of fat soluble vitamins and more minerals. I'd do a cal/mag supp, probably equal amounts of mag and cal since both are needed and most people are low on mag--a multi-mineral supp may be a good idea, something with a range of other minerals as well-- plus cod liver oil, a D supp if you're using one now (what lab did the test? just check to make sure it's not Quest, they give results that are higher than other labs apparently) and then a K2 supp. I use Thorne's K2, for us it's not economical to use butter oil, but it may be fine for you -- my son needs a lot of K2 for unusual reasons.

Some people have had good results adding cell salts to good diet, I haven't tried them yet and we're dealing with other health stuff, not cavities, so I can't chime in on that part. You can search for more discussion, here and in Health & Healing.

People have healed cavities, it's possible. It's not guaranteed, but it's a really interesting outcome. And if it's possible, it seems worth investigating--even if you decide that you've got a time-sensitive situation, and need to deal with these cavities now, it still seems like investigating underlying causes, what makes your LO susceptible when not all kids are, seems worthwhile to me.

[swsoup]

Originally Posted by TanyaLopez

I'd do a cal/mag supp, probably equal amounts of mag and cal since both are needed and most people are low on mag--a multi-mineral supp may be a good idea, something with a range of other minerals as well-- plus cod liver oil, a D supp if you're using one now

You can search for more discussion, here and in Health & Healing.

Thanks, Tanya! Super helpful suggestions. I'll get our girls started on the calc/mag supplements & D3. I'll also check out the Health & Healing section, as I've yet to do that.

I think we will fill the current cavitites (w/ composite) and try everything we can to get her adult teeth that are forming now good & strong. Thanks again!

[swsoup]

Update: Success!

Hi,

I just wanted to share an UPDATE since my original post that started this tread. To recap, in March, our daughter (age 7) was found to have 7 cavities in her mouth. We were shocked, etc., but did some research about healing dental cavities. We are raw milk drinkers, and our diet is: organic meat, veggies/fruit, and dairy (no soda, candy - rarely). We gave her 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. fermented cod liver oil and high vitamin butter oil and viola - I'm pleased to say that she now 13 weeks later, she has only 2 small cavities in between 2 teeth! We switched dentists to get a second opinion and had her re x-rayed last week - so I've wondered if the first dentist was super aggressive or what. In fact, when the new dentist reviewed the original x-rays, he only saw the one cavity...not sure what to make the whole thing, but we are thrilled!

[lorelei]

I would be thrilled and hugely relieved, too! WTG mama! Yay for no drillin n fillin!

[swsoup]

Thanks! We are thrilled! I'm not sure if the improvement was due to adding fermented cod liver oil & high vitamin butter oil, or switching dentists...maybe a combo. Needless to say, I'm glad that we were able to wait and that we didn't jump right in with drill/fill x 7 as the first dentist recommended! LOVE this forum!

[mizzshannon]

congrats mama!

BTW, does your new dentist have more of a naturopathic bent than the first I wonder? I'm still searching for a dentist myself, but in the meantime we're supplementing with cell salts and doing xylitol rinses after food/drink.

[simplemama]

thank you so much for posting this! I had 2 appnts scheduled for my 6.5 dd for tomorrow & Monday but canceled after reading through this so i could read into some more options & get a 2nd opinion first. We were going to do composites but i still don't feel 100% sure about that route. where did you get your oils? she eats mostly like you but no liquid milk. even the yummy raw milk makes my dd sick. i don't think she needs it though.

[swsoup]

Originally Posted by mizzshannon

BTW, does your new dentist have more of a naturopathic bent than the first I wonder? I'm still searching for a dentist myself, but in the meantime we're supplementing with cell salts and doing xylitol rinses after food/drink.

Actually, no, the new dentist isn't "naturopathic" although he does believe in re-mineralization (through xylitol and flouride). The practice is a large HMO, but he is young and more open-minded. They are in favor of Spry products (and warned of others that contain xylitol, but that don't list it as a main ingredient).

I showed him the treatment plan from the first dentist and he looked at the x-ray and after careful examination, he said he just couldn't see anything that was on the treatment plan (except for one cavity, instead of 7!). So, I have to think that the supplements helped because the first dentist is quite respectable in our community and I can't imagine that he would say a child had 7 cavities if s/he didn't...but you never know!

Also, his company does sealants, but they are not BPA-free. Because it's a large company, they won't order BPA-sealants just for me. He is the first mainstream dentist that said, "she doesn't need sealants...they are a preventative measure and could help, but we didn't have them when we were growing up!" So, I like him - but I'm not crazy about the company he works for. : )

[lookatreestar]

wow that is such good news!!

[swsoup]

Originally Posted by simplemama

thank you so much for posting this! I had 2 appnts scheduled for my 6.5 dd for tomorrow & Monday but canceled after reading through this so i could read into some more options & get a 2nd opinion first. We were going to do composites but i still don't feel 100% sure about that route. where did you get your oils? she eats mostly like you but no liquid milk. even the yummy raw milk makes my dd sick. i don't think she needs it though.

I'm glad my post helped! After I took my daughter to the first dentist who told us she had 7 cavities, I canceled the appointment to have the first few filled and the receptionist said, "well, she doesn't have nerve damage yet so you don't want to put this off!" That was March, and I just now last week (August) filled the one and only cavity that she had. We opted for composite filling because I didn't want the amalgam filling.

I think it's good to closely monitor the cavity in question while you try re-mineralization.

I bought the fermented cod liver oil and high vitamin butter oil at our local health food store. The cost was about the same online, but I didn't have to pay shipping. They were expensive, but cheaper than 7 cavities!

Good luck and let us know how it goes!