rotten teeth from nigh nursing? - Page 2

[gardenbelle]

Shaki, yes, the pediatric dentist we found is awesome and came highly recommended.  He even got my 3 1/2 year old to get up happily on the seat and accept the examination by playing games with him.  :)

Imakcerka - your avitar is hysterical!  Thanks for your input. :)

[Asiago]

GardenBelle, does your baby have reflux or sensitivities to foods in your own diet? Both can cause stomach acid to come up and wash over the enamel of the teeth. This is corrosive and can create decay and lead to dental caries, even in exclusively breastfed babies. I have read that dentists commonly attribute it to night nursing/bottle rot, but pediatric dentists seem more educated on dental issues of reflux babies.

Apparently BM has a "low buffering capacity" according to AAP, but they also state that it does not cause decay or caries. I don't know if you would consider AAP neutral enough a source of information but the article is interesting never the less one worth reading.

Pamela Erickson, DDS, PhD and researchers at the University of Minnesota investigated the decay potential of human breast milk. In laboratory studies, breast milk alone did not damage tooth enamel. 

http://www.aapd.org/media/pressreleases/breastfeeding-99.asp

The quote below is from a site about reflux. Again, I don't know if the reflux or food sensitivities issue is even relevant for your baby, but infant reflux and tooth decay/cavities seems an often overlooked topic.

Stomach acid can melt tooth enamel. Please take your child to a dentist as soon as his or her teeth start coming in. Make sure that the dentist watches for tooth decay and enamel erosion. 

http://infantrefluxdisease.com/infant_acid_reflux/reflux-dental.php

Edited by Asiago - 11/22/11 at 11:34am

[LionessMom]

Originally Posted by gardenbelle 

Hmm, I don't know, I think we are going to have to agree to disagree.  I think the argument of prehistoric man is not solid considering the difference in diet and their drastically shorter life span but I see what you are getting at. Are you sure they had perfect teeth though?  I remember reading the opposite and about suicides over tooth aches, eek.  I just watched a documentary on prehistoric man and one of the skeletons they found had an absess (sp?) in their mouth from tooth decay.

I will see if my library has the book you are talking about as I am going there later today.  I'm all for trying to rectify this through diet change and I am going to take her to my D.O. the week after Thanksgiving for him to run some tests for mineral deficiencies and possibly a gluten issue.  I want to get to the bottom of this but I do think it would be reckless of me to disregard what the dentist have said, especially considering it's such an easy thing to do - clean her teeth after feedings. 

I really don't think it's a bad thing if it was breast milk now that I've had a few days to let the news sink in, I am still so glad I nurse her and my dentist has a good point - so what if she has a few cavities from it when breast milk is so good for her? :)
 

sorry i was actually thinking of the native americans. i read an article about how they noticed that they all had nice teeth. the article stated that they noticed that in skeletons in areas where they ate a primal diet, few grains, lots of meat, etc. 

 also, ask your library about inter-library loan. they can check out books from other libraries for you, have them sent to your library and you still get them for 2 full weeks and then they send them back for you. no charge. 

Originally Posted by gardenbelle 

Thanks for all the info!  My local library had no books by Weston Price, but I did quite a bit of research on WAPF tonight to see what it's about.  I am very fascinated!  I agree with quite a bit I have to say, esp the whole foods idea.  I make most of our diet from scratch using whole foods, though I do make our bread, pasta and baked goods with wheat flour. We do eat our fair share of organic meats and we keep chickens for eggs so we do eat a lot of eggs.  I'm not sold, however, on some of the other ideas esp considering he passed in 1948 so a lot of the information is based on old research that is interpreted by other people.  I still think that eating sugar and not brushing is a main cause of cavities and breast milk does have a lot of sugar in it, so I'm still pretty confident in the dentist's explanation.  That's not to say I won't rule out a mineral deficiency or food intolerance though, I want to make sure I don't overlook anything.  I can't imagine how bad I would feel if I didn't explore other causes and she continued to get more tooth decay.  Thanks again for all the info!
 

sugar doesnt do it bc it sits on the teeth though. the way sugar contributes is by changing the acidity/alkalinity of your body and by causing malabsorption of minerals. and table sugar is half fructose, half glucose. milk sugar is lactose. it is 2 diifferent sugars that react in different ways. if your diet is full of the right foods already then there could be an intolerance or malabsorption of something you are eating. i hope you figure out what it is. it make all the difference for us. all we did was change our diet and our teeth got better.

flouride applied topically will make teeth harder. it makes it more brittle too. using flouride can be good, but for us it made things worse and it made me nauseas. and this was just in toothpaste. so throwing up every time i brushed my teeth didnt help. i really wish my water was flouride free. sigh. but my kids and i are sensitive to chemicals. i do know some people who needed it and it was good for their. it all really boils down to your own research. that is the only way to get answers that will be good and right for your family.