Remineralization and diet for healthy teeth - Page 2

[Wildflower]

I love water made into a weak lemonade with a dash of lemon and a sprinkle of stevia powder (a natural, no calorie sweetener from the "sweetleaf plant," actually supposed to be good for your blood sugar levels, tastes great but bitter if you use too much). I'm not sure if stevia is okay for kids, I don't see why it wouldn't be, though...Also, herbal teas like mint, berry, apple spice, etc can be served iced and are hydrating and nutritive as well, also could be sweetened with stevia for a juice-like taste (strong brewed Wild Berry tea from Celestial Seasonings tastes just like juice to me, with no sugar). Good luck to you! Oh, do they still make fun straws? Maybe a really cool, special sports bottle or cup for water (or whatever) only, and a treat if they drink the whole thing over the day?

[boobykinmamma]

I was going to suggest herbal iced teas with stevia too. DS loves this--he gets no juice, just water, rice dream, or herbal tea. Decaf iced green tea, maybe combined with a fruit tea, is great too, because it contains natural flouride. Too much citrus though, I have heard, weakens tooth enamel.

[MamaInHarmony]

Ideas for treats that aren't sweet

So now that my dd's teeth are fixed I want to keep them healthy, but we have a problem...she loves chocolate. We have made the mistake of giving in too many times(with the help of my mother-in-law starting it all! I know that is bad to blame it on her but is true) Now I don't want her to have much sugar at all. And boy does she have a sweet tooth. The dentist thinks she may have weak enamel to begin with so will be prone to cavities anyway. I need some ideas on what to do when she starts begging for treats(which to her means a sugary item) I know a ground rule is just don't have anything in the house of that sort, period. But, when we are out and about and she sees something she asks and then begs and whines. I don't like the idea of saying no so many times to her. And saying no flat out everytime, or as many times as it will take to get it across. I would like to have something that I can give to her as an alternative. Say, "we can't have that right now, but why don't we have one of these instead". It will be difficult because she is a picky eater in general. My idea was to have a grab bowl or bag filled with stickers and small little gagets, and when she feels like she needs a treat she can pick something out. Use for rewards and such, because that is a mistake we make also, we use sweet treats as rewards. I know, I know, we have been very bad. Please, any ideas would be appreciated. I feel as though this isn't very "Mothering" behavior so go easy on me okay!
Also, Smilemomma dd has composite resin fillings on two of her top teeth(between front and incisor, name?) and I am wondering what foods we should definitely avoid so as to not stain them. Thank you everybody for your tiime, it became longer than I wanted. -H

[Clarity]

popcorn? pretzels? fruity/veggie/pirate's booty? Mini carrots, fresh fruit, cucumber slices (nicer then sweets in the summer.) For "rewards" focusing on the stickers etc might be a good strategy..or certificates for doing things she likes depending on age (1/2 hour storytime, go to playground, etc.) Maybe getting away from food entirely as a reward is a faster way. My DD is too young for me to know, but I'm hoping we can set an example by not using food, dessert, etc as a reward for ourselves either. We try to not have coke, candy, etc in the house, but have it as an occasional going-out treat.

[Debbiemom]

I hope Smilemomma will confirm or deny this, because I'm not totally sure how accurate it is, but a dental tech told me that it's not just sweets but starches that cause cavities, and that the starches are actually worse than the sweets!

[Clarity]

I thought so, but on a little newspaper dental quiz sticky things like dried apricots and raisins were worse than starches, so I had guessed wrong. I still hold that starches in a balanced amount are a better choice than candy. (for health if not only dental!) Let's see what smilemomma says...

[Threefold]

Could this be anything but decay?

I just noticed a tiny brown spot on the side of one of ds's front teeth--not the very front, but the one just next to it. He is 17 months and for a month and a half was taking supplemental iron drops. The packaging of the iron drops says "temporary discoloration of teeth due to iron drops can be minimized by thorough brushing" It is hard to do thorough brushing of his teeth though I have been very regular with brushing 1X a day. His teeth did appear to turn blue after a while and since we have stopped giving the drops the teeth look mostly white again, except for some discoloration on the front of the tooth I am worried about. I was looking at this tooth today and noticed the small spot on the side. I think it is brown, though it is hard to tell. Is there any possible way this spot is also from the iron drops? I am really hoping so! I have excellent teeth, but dh's are not great. I am trying to stop from getting ahead of myself, but I am really worried about this! I need to search out a dentist, but I don't think I can add ds to our insurance until September's open enrollment period. Not that I will wait 'til then if this is decay that needs immediate attention! I am also unhappy with our current dentist, so I've got some homework to do!

[Smilemomma]

[rachael_barlow]

A few ideas for you:

- towards the idea that all things break down into sugars, you just want to make your body have to work to break them down. So white flour, found to contribute to tooth decay, is bad whereas whole wheat is better - not great but better. Plant foods in their natural state are best. Crunchy stuff - jicama, carrots, peppers, apples I don't think are too bad either even though they contain fructose. As an example, due to my second child's extreme and numerous food allergies, I had to overhaul my already healthy diet. I had to remove almost all grains. I could not believe how different my teeth felt when I got my calories from almost all veggie and fruit sources.

- cook everything yourself. You could look into stevia, brown rice syrup and things like that as the sweeteners in cookies. Use Feeding the Whole Family for recipes.

- use a phrase I use constantly "that is not good for your body. yes, Daddy's body can handle X but yours cannot."

- carry a toothbrush everywhere with you and brush if she eats anything you are nervous about.

I'm with you! 4 years ago, my oldest developed caries and I overhauled our diet / life. You won't believe how much you will learn. I'd rather have many other ways to learn but this is one effective way!

Rachael

[sammymom]

blue-green algae

Hi,
i havnt looked at this board ever since we decided to go ahead and get sam's teeth fixed, but i realy wanted to pass this on. at a tooth decay meeting two days ago one mother described using blue-green algae on her doughter's teeth topically, and she has seen reversal of decay and holes filling in. at the very least, we couldnt see any active decay on teeth that were obviously danaged. She did say that she put it on every day, and if she stopped, the decay came back. now i know, this is only one person, and obviously i have no idea of long term or any other side effects, but if it could work for anyone else out there, it would be fantastic. i know i am going to try it . this was the brand she used:
Super Blue Green from www.celltech.com (i think the actual brand is alpha sun)

[Smilemomma]

Please don't waste your money!

If a log fell down in the forest, and a hole rotted in it, and you painted it with algae ... the hole would miraculously become tree again? The rot would ... fall out? dissolve? vanish into the ether?

Absolutely NO scientific basis for this at all. Please don't endanger your teeth. If it's rotten, the rot has to be physically removed (sanded, scooped, drilled) and the hole filled in (dap, bondo, wood putty). Same thing.

Sorry!

[nicsmom]

Can't teeth heal?

Bones heal after breaks. Skin heals if punctured or torn. Why not teeth? I'm curious to know why teeth would not be able to heal as other parts of the body do when damaged.

[Smilemomma]

Bone and skin are organic, living structures. Teeth, aside from the inner pulp and the very, very small percentage of collagen in the dentin, are almost totally inorganic. That is, more like rock than like bone.

Bone and skin undergo continuous remodeling; teeth, in toto, do not. Once they're made, there they are.

There is a certain limited healing capacity to the pulp, and to the enamel (see the "remineralization" thread in the dental archives for more detail), but the dentin does not heal. Once the cavity has reached the dentin, it will continue to destroy tooth structure until it is removed.

HTH!

[nicsmom]

That makes sense. Thanks Smilemomma for clearing that up for me. So are the layers of teeth: enamel, dentin, pulp (from outside in)?

Edited to ask, how do you know if the decay has gotten through the enamel to the dentin?

Chris

[AnnMarie]

What about amorphous calcium phosphate? Does it help repair teeth and do you think we'll be seeing this in chewing gum and/or other products?


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