I am not someone who typically posts on mothering to vent, so please forgive me on this, I guess we all have our moments. I am just at my wits end about my 16 month old's teeth. We found two cavities on his front teeth and immediately took him to our generally good dentist who proceeded to tell us it was due to breastfeeding at night (which I know is not the case due to the research I have read, for instance, here http://www.kellymom.com/bf/older-baby/tooth-decay.html) and that he needed to go under GA to have the cavities filled ASAP.
For two days I have been reading everything under the sun and I just feel like I am at the end of my rope. We spoke on the phone to another dentist who we were told was more holistic and flexible, and he said the same thing - from breastfeeding and he needs to go under GA to have cavities filled. We are vegetarian, almost vegan, and eat pretty healthily - low on processed foods, minimal to no juice, lots of fruits and veggies, etc. and then I read all of this about the Weston Price diet (I respect the people who insist that vegetarian/vegans should eat animal products for their teeth, but for a range of reasons, that simply isn't an option for us.)
I just can't comprehend that it must be necessary for SO many children to have SUCH excessive dental work - caps, cavities, pulpectomies, etc.
I just feel so overwhelmed - you are damned if you do, damned if you don't on everything - I have tried to be such a careful, conscientious parent and I just can't tell how in the world to proceed from here. I have read so many HORROR stories about doing tooth work with GA or conscious sedation. It feels very wrong to me - like a terrible option. Our son is very sensitive and both options utterly potentially traumatic for him. Yet, of course, I don't want his teeth to rot out. My DP is worried that his permanent teeth and speech will be impacted. Me too, of course, we are going to try xylitol and ACT as per Dr. Ellie's suggestions, and try harder to get LO to cooperate with brushing, but he is so young and really can't understand requests very well, much less go along with them, but the concern is that they get worse, abscess and then our dentist said this could impact his permanent teeth?? Ugg. It reminds me of the vaccination struggle. It is so hard to parse out all the literature and there seem to be risks with every option and we can't even find a dentist that can work with us without immediately jumping to breastfeeding explanation and then GA/cavities filled answer.
Sorry for the vent. Thanks for listening.
For two days I have been reading everything under the sun and I just feel like I am at the end of my rope. We spoke on the phone to another dentist who we were told was more holistic and flexible, and he said the same thing - from breastfeeding and he needs to go under GA to have cavities filled. We are vegetarian, almost vegan, and eat pretty healthily - low on processed foods, minimal to no juice, lots of fruits and veggies, etc. and then I read all of this about the Weston Price diet (I respect the people who insist that vegetarian/vegans should eat animal products for their teeth, but for a range of reasons, that simply isn't an option for us.)
I just can't comprehend that it must be necessary for SO many children to have SUCH excessive dental work - caps, cavities, pulpectomies, etc.
I just feel so overwhelmed - you are damned if you do, damned if you don't on everything - I have tried to be such a careful, conscientious parent and I just can't tell how in the world to proceed from here. I have read so many HORROR stories about doing tooth work with GA or conscious sedation. It feels very wrong to me - like a terrible option. Our son is very sensitive and both options utterly potentially traumatic for him. Yet, of course, I don't want his teeth to rot out. My DP is worried that his permanent teeth and speech will be impacted. Me too, of course, we are going to try xylitol and ACT as per Dr. Ellie's suggestions, and try harder to get LO to cooperate with brushing, but he is so young and really can't understand requests very well, much less go along with them, but the concern is that they get worse, abscess and then our dentist said this could impact his permanent teeth?? Ugg. It reminds me of the vaccination struggle. It is so hard to parse out all the literature and there seem to be risks with every option and we can't even find a dentist that can work with us without immediately jumping to breastfeeding explanation and then GA/cavities filled answer.
Sorry for the vent. Thanks for listening.
