Bad Baby Teeth

[LorenaAZ]

My daughter is now 15 months and still nursing. She nurses a lot...several times during the day and night, and every time to fall asleep. She has a lot of baby teeth including molars, but they look smaller than ¨normal.¨ Two of her top teeth (the ones right next to the middle ones on both sides) came in very tiny with jagged edges and looked like they had bad enamel (not shiny, opaque, stains, etc). Her 2 middle top teeth have jagged bottoms. The pediatrician never made any comments about her teeth, so I didn´t think too much about them other than every child must be different.
Well, now we are spending the summer in Spain and her teeth have gotten a lot worse in a matter of 2 weeks. I don´t know whether it´s the food or water here (or nothing, maybe just timing) but her 2 top teeth that always looked small seem to be eroding away. They have gotten a lot smaller and they have little brown spots (cavities?). I am going to find out how the health care system works here and see if I can take her to a dentist. Spainsh doctors are not very breastfeeding friendly. Which is why I wanted to ask here if anyone else has had problems like this one? What did you do? Can a dentist do anything about it? I have read that a large proportion of breastfed children have bad teeth. Is that a myth? I have also heard of some orthodontists who don´t do anything with baby teeth because they will fall out and be replaced anyway.

Any advice? Experience? I´m very nervous about this.

[tri31]

Hi, I noticed my dc's teeth need attention around 15 months. At the time he also nursed quite a bit day and night. I had him looked at by two different dentists. Neither of them thought that the damage was due to breastfeeding. They said it was more likely heredity. Jaden did go through a teeth grinding faze. He had terrible stranger anxiety. Either could have done it. My older two (previous marriage) breastfed in much the same pattern and they didn't have any issues. Best wishes.

[rightkindofme]

A huge percentage of the children in my family have that problem and most are not nursed. Breastmilk is unlikely to cause tooth decay. Kelly Mom specifically says it isn't a big problem. It just seems to happen with some kids. I'm sorry it is happening with your kiddo.

[smpayne]

Check with a dentist. Most will do a baby exam fairly cheap (don't know about Spain). Is she in obvious pain? Has dd changed her solid food eating habits? Does she avoid using her teeth?

My ds#1 and I both have very discolored teeth. They are yellow to tan (can change from day to day) and I even had a really dark spot on my molar (they double checked the spot for 15 years to check for soft spots indicating a cavity - hard as a rock). The dentist did not find my first cavity until I was 35 and neither of my kids have any yet (15 & 10). How large were your/dh teeth as a baby?

The only reason ff MAY have a lower cavity rate is becasue powdered formula used to be made with mostly tap water, which usually contains added flouride (levels vary from city to city).

[LorenaAZ]

Thanks for the replies. I am not sure whether she is in pain or not. She has never bit things very hard (I always ask her to bite gently so as not to rip my nipples off). So I don´t know if she doesn´t bite down hard on things because she`s not used to or because it hurts. She is not acting any different than usual.
Either way, I got an appointment with a local dentist for tomorrow. Hopefully, the dentist can tell me what she has going on.