cause of tooth decay in toddler Update: we night weaned

[iluvbnamomma]

I have been searching in the archives and everywhere i possibly can for some answers as to why my beautiful otherwise healthy 2yr old dd has decay on her little teeth and i am still stumped.  

Here is my story:

Around 12mths my dd had a bad case of thrush.  I was prescribed Nystatin.  One night while trying to wipe her tongue i noticed one of her incisors that had just come in had a small pin size hole in the front.  Then a few days later i noticed the other incisors had a discolored indentation across the top! I frantically called the dentist and took her in.  To my horror the dentist told me that she had decay in all of her top teeth (she only had 4 at the time) and they would need to sedate her, strap her to a papoose board and cap all of them asap!  I was shocked and full of questions that no one could answer.  They painted her teeth with fluoride varnish scheduled her procedure for sept, 4 mths later (so much for asap) and sent me on my way.  I went home and started reading...

First i researched the fact that she had thrush and the medicine that they prescribed to her to treat it. Then i called all of my friends to find a dentist that would talk to me!  Well one yr later i am happy to say that i have a great respectful very conservative dentist and my dd has not been strapped down.   We have been "playing" at our dentists office every week for about 5 mths and she feels very comfortable there.  Her teeth do not look great but they are getting better (i believe).  Her front 2 teeth have some demineralization, both her incisors have decay one on the back and front, and she has a cavity in one molar. We are watching them very carefully and slowly doing what we can.  She was able to get her two incisors filled without sedation and without trauma.  It took 2 hours, but we were on my dd's time and she was very cooperative and smiling throughout :). I  have changed her diet, brush several times a day with fluoride tp, give her mi paste twice a day and chew xylitol gum  and use other xylitol products as much as possible.

  I feel like we are doing what we can in the situation without traumatizing my dd, but i still have questions and i am still very concerned about her now healthy teeth.  My biggest question is to whether or not i should night wean my dd? She loves her "mo mo" and would be so upset if i did not let her have it for "nigh nights" Even if i were to restrict her at night, how will i get her to sleep without nursing after brushing?  I have begun to detach her if she falls asleep and is still "sleep-nursing" That way if there is any pooling she will swallow, but i am sure she still has bm in her mouth while she sleeps.

Our dentist does think this is a contributing factor but has not said to wean her in any way.  She understands that my dd is "more than her teeth" and would never judge me for continuing our nursing relationship :) I am so thankful to have found her :)

I do fear that  if i night wean that maybe the decay will become worse.  Maybe the night nursing is not contributing to the problem and it is actually slowing it down?  My reading had taught me a lot about the mouth chemistry and one theory i have is that night nursing may help keep your saliva flowing.  I notice my dd is a mouth breather and until she nurses her mouth is very dry while she sleeps. 

what do you all think about this?

If you have a dc that has or had ecc did you night nurse?  Do you think it contributed to the decay?  Did you night wean and see improvement? 

Thanks for reading.

Hope to hear many thoughts on this topic.

[butterflylover]

I'm sorry. I read your post but I have no experience whatsoever on the topic. My child has had 3 composite amalgams put in and 3 stainless steel crowns. She had to be IV sedated to had the work done about 2 years ago. She also had 1 pulpotomy under each crown. I am just now trying to research and learn how to heal her teeth naturally. :(

I wish you the best! 

[iluvbnamomma]

Thank you so much for your response.  Has your dc had more dental woes since the work that you had done?  I wish you the best of luck on your journey to healing your childs teeth naturally.  I have been reading through all the posts in this forum for days now and feel like the wisdom of many has helped me so much.  I hope you feel the same.

[iluvbnamomma]

anyone else have anything to share?

[Koalamom]

my dd developed decay AFTER we weaned. Luckily we were able to heal them before they got bad. I still night nurse my ds and he has fine teeth.

[iluvbnamomma]

Originally Posted by Koalamom 

my dd developed decay AFTER we weaned. Luckily we were able to heal them before they got bad. I still night nurse my ds and he has fine teeth.

Well there ya go.  Was the decay like "bottle decay" meaning on front four teeth?

[iluvbnamomma]

Update for anyone interested in night weaning due to decay.  Here is a positive story:

dd is night weaned!  After thinking long and hard about whether this was the right choice for her and i, i decided that even if her dental woes are not caused by night nursing, i was too nervous of the possibility that it was a contributing factor.  So I sat down with my dd (she is 26 mths btw) and calmly explained to her that at night the "mo-mo" needs to sleep.  That she could have as much "mo-mo" as she wanted during the day, but when the sun went down and we went "nigh-night" the "mo-mo" needed to go "nigh-night" too.  Well fast forward 3 days and she is now sleeping from 8pm until 6am without nursing and without tears!  I am shocked.  It was rough and emotional, but it did not effect her during the day at all; she still has her spirit and she's actually quite proud that she does not drink her "mom-mo" at night.  She told a complete stranger at the park today :). She is definitely taking advantage of the "whenever you want" part during the day and has been nursing like a newborn! ha ha.  We will work on that later. I am still nursing her to sleep after brushing her teeth, but then not again until she wakes for the day.  The crazy thing is she has always been a very restless sleeper and pretty much nursed all night long.  Now she is sleeping great and so am i. yay!   I try to wipe her mouth out a bit after the night nurse and then apply her mi paste for the night. Anyway, thought i would share :)

[Koalamom]

Originally Posted by iluvbnamomma 

Well there ya go.  Was the decay like "bottle decay" meaning on front four teeth?

It was only on the eye teeth so not your typical 4 front teeth.

Congrats on the sleeping better. That is the thing that changed night and day difference when weaning dd. She went from 10 times a night waking to sleeping all the way.