Causes of Decay and Prevention - Page 6

[Mariposa]

Tooth decay in 10 month old...

Hi! I have read the archives and found lots of great info on breastfeeding, cavities, etc. But I still have some questions if anyone can help, especially Smilemomma...when you get the chance!! I know you are extremely busy! I looked and looked but couldn't find info for a young baby (10 months) with cavities already supposedly caused by night breastfeeding *according to the dentist*

My best friend's son (I am asking for her since she doesn't really like the internet! ) is 10 months old. Got first tooth at 4 1/2 months and had 8 by 8 months old. The top ones came in and they chipped right away even though he doesn't eat hard things or much solids right now anyway (no juice either, no bottles, just BM). He then started getting brown spots on the top 4 teeth. The bottom 4 are fine. I did read about that bacteria and the mom does have some unfilled cavities (she is scared to go to the dentist...aren't we all!!! Ouch!)

She went to see a pediatric dentist who told her it was because she nurses him at night. Like I was surprised by that... She also said that the cavities were moderate to severe, that it looked like he had soft enamel. The cavities are actually on the inner side of the teeth not the outer. She also told her to that she won't do anything until he is at least a year old. And that she shouldn't use fluoride toothpaste for him.

She also told her to talk to her pediatrician about ways to stop cosleeping. ACK. Not surprising with her views on breastfeeding. He is only 10 months old for goodness sake.

Anyway, her questions are these:

1. Does what the dentist recommended seem appropriate? No fluoride and waiting till after a year? She also suggested wiping his teeth after BF and nightweaning him.

2. What can she do to help stop further decay? Any natural remedies for such a young baby? Should she brush with fluoride toothpaste? Homeopathic remedies for infant??

3. Why would a baby so young have this happen to him and could it be genetics? She was brushing his teeth but with no toothpaste or anything. His teeth chipped so soon after they came out and it is only the top teeth.

4. Is it common for such young babies to have this? Maybe since he teethed so young?

Thanks in advance. I really tried to look but everyone's baby seemed so much older than he is. I am glad to have all the info. My DD is 6 months old with no teeth yet so I am learning all I can to hopefully prevent them in her!)

mama2abby

APing, BFing, CDing, SAHM to my sweet little daughter Abby

[simonee]

I wish I could answer your questions with anything resembling confidence, but all I have is a year experience reading this forum...

The dentist in question, like so many of them :, seems awfully quick in her judgment of breastfeeding. I'd take it with some huge chunks of salt... It sounds more like your friend's son has a combination of bad genes (mom with cavities), bad environment (mom's bacteria going in his mouth), and bad luck (very soft enamel indeed). She should read the Late summer 2002 Mothering Mag, which had lots of info on bf-ing and dental health, so she's armed with facts so to speak.

I also don't know why there is a magic 1-year boundary. Maybe smilemomma can help with that??? I can see that they want to wait till a child weighs a certain amount (for anesthesia purposes), but don't understand the age thing. Same with fluoride ~ smilemomma recommends a MINIMAL amount of Tom's of Maine, but I don't know if she says start when the baby reaches a certain weight, or a certain age, or whatever. Some mamas here have also recommended wiping the teeth with a wet cloth with a drop of (DILUTED!) tea tree oil or clove oil on it, which are excellent disinfectants.

Sounds like this baby is just very unlucky Your friend will probably have to start taking a very proactive approach to his dental care, so that it doesn't keep getting worse. She should also take care of her own teeth, because every time she kisses him or tests the temperature of his food with her mouth, her dental bacteria are transferred to him. (I know how she feels though. I had to deal with some major dentist fears to get my own teeth fixed up, so I'd stop giving my dd cavities).

BTW it may turn out that only these four teeth are bad, and that even the rest of his top teeth will be fine. Sometimes a virus or something during pregnancy can affect just those teeth that are formed at that moment (my dd has two bad ones and 18 pearly beauties), and there's a good chance that, once these four are fixed, he'll be just fine and dandy

[cattrane]

i have no great wisdom but i wanted to tell you the EXACT SAME THING!!! happened to my ds!

His first three teeth to come in, the two central upper incisors and the second upper right incisor, all had a yellowish-brownish line across them, and by 9-10 months they were starting to chip. He actually broke off the bottom of one by bumping it on a blanket! the rest of his teeth came in normally. We started brushing his teeth/gums after nursing but hadn't up until that point.

Here's where i have no advice, because the town we were living in had waaaaay too much demand for ped. dentists so it was literally a yearlong waiting list. The first dentist we went to said, "yep, you're right, the enamel is soft" and then "you should see a pediatric dentist" um, i THOUGHT that's what our appt was for LOL
They also were very negative about breastfeeding which i totally ignored since they couldn't even book our appointment properly

Just before we moved out of state when ds was 2, we saw this fabulous family dentist in a tiny neighboring town who said he'd seen quite a few similar cases and couldn't be sure what had caused it as i hadn't taken any medications during pregnancy (such as tetracycline). He was of the opinion that even if it is ever proven breastfeeding is detrimental to some children's teeth the benefits far outweigh the risk, and did not think that had played a part. We were expecting to be told at that time we'd need to pull the teeth, but since ds was not experiencing any pain when biting, did not have any discharge, gum inflammation, or pockets/looseness around the teeth, extraction was not indicated just yet. He did scale off the soft enamel since it was flaking off anyhow, and applied a flouride solution only to the three affected teeth. he did not recommend going overboard with flouride.

We did end up having the two central incisors pulled and the two on either side crowned as the three teeth were basically dead ~ the roots were pretty much gone by the time ds was 2.5 (his first xrays as the previous dentist didn't want to do rads at the first visit), and one had started to abscess. The pediatric dentist we saw here reassured us that genetics and the luck of the draw were factors more than anything else ~ how else to explain kids with kool-aid bottles and only a cavity?


OH MAN i am sorry about that longass story!! I wanted to let you know her babe is not the only one!! The point is that i agree with simonee completely, and all the rest of ds' teeth are fine (although he does have a propensity toward cavities if we so much as blink). NOTHING i could have done while nursing would have caused this extreme of soft enamel/decay! Everything i read at the time also seemed to indicate that the teeth were doomed from the start but it was a matter of waiting until they actually were diseased enough to pull, or waiting for the adults to come in (his adult teeth on x-rays are perfectly normal by the way, even though they were sitting in bacteria from the abscessed tooth!)

I hope you haven't gone blind!
Good luck, i hope you find a more understanding and holistic dentist!! It's really too bad there aren't smilemomma clones! Send one to minnesota asap!

[cattrane]

if i ever use proper grammar through an entire post on this board i think i will faint dead away. it's all i can do to type caps!