Hi,
I am new here and have spent several hours reading archives and old posts. I will try to keep it reasonable but sorry in advance for the long post. We have been through much of what many of you are dealing with with our second child, our 1st is 9 and has never had a cavity. He had cavities at 10 months, dismissed as stains from his iron supplement by the pediatrician and then they quickly rotted away to stumps and he had 13 of his 20 teeth repaired (1 removed) under general sedation at 2 as soon as his molars were in so we could seal them at the same time. Soon after, we added up symptoms with our new pediatrician and confirmed with a gastro specialist that he probably suffered from silent reflux and was washing his teeth with acid all night! (he also was a slow weight gianer, had iron issues, frequent ear infections, and respiratory infections) so it made sense to me that the intact teeth are the front bottom ones protected by his toungue. We determined he had milk protien intolerance and so removing milk protien from my diet (he wasn't eating any dairy because our oldest can't tolerate it) and chiropractic visits resolved all other issues. We have kept his teeth in good repair with good brushing, careful diet and frequent dental visits and have been pleased that his only dental work has been repairs to existing work, no new issues. Well, he is 7 now and his permanent teeth are errupting. His 6 year molars have been in his mouth for 2 months and the hygenist says they have "sticky spots" that need small fillings. We have quickly upped our efforts to flouride rinses 2 times a day, xylitol gum between meals and went back to doing all of dental care for him at bedtime (we were just beginning to let him do his own brushing) and we have stashed brushes and toothpaste everywhere so he can brush whenever he eats, even away from home with the goal of reducing the bacteria in his mouth. The hygenist suggested flouride drops as the only option for strengthening his "soft" teeth claiming it is probably too late since his permanent teethare already forming in his jaw but it may lower the amount of bacteria! I have read so much valuable information here that I had to discover for myself when he was a toddler but I place a higher value on his permanent teeth and don't want to make any mistakes. I have terrible teeth and envision his teeth being patched with filling after filling (like mine) until they begin to break apart as he grows to adulthood (like mine). Fortunately, he has had nothing but positive experiences with his pediadentist and has absolutely no fear (like I do) of visiting there. That is the long version, here are a couple of questions:
1. Should we fill these sticky spots or work on remineralizing? I don't want to wait very long, it only took a few months to ruin his baby teeth but I don't want to do fill them if they can repair themselves.
2. Should I try a mineral supplement? Floradix makes a multimineral with herbs and is at my local heath food store and have found their iron+ herbs very effective when I needed it. Anyone have any ideas there?
3. Cod liver Oil? How does that work and what is ECC?
I would appreciate any advice! Sorry for the long post.
Harmony
I am new here and have spent several hours reading archives and old posts. I will try to keep it reasonable but sorry in advance for the long post. We have been through much of what many of you are dealing with with our second child, our 1st is 9 and has never had a cavity. He had cavities at 10 months, dismissed as stains from his iron supplement by the pediatrician and then they quickly rotted away to stumps and he had 13 of his 20 teeth repaired (1 removed) under general sedation at 2 as soon as his molars were in so we could seal them at the same time. Soon after, we added up symptoms with our new pediatrician and confirmed with a gastro specialist that he probably suffered from silent reflux and was washing his teeth with acid all night! (he also was a slow weight gianer, had iron issues, frequent ear infections, and respiratory infections) so it made sense to me that the intact teeth are the front bottom ones protected by his toungue. We determined he had milk protien intolerance and so removing milk protien from my diet (he wasn't eating any dairy because our oldest can't tolerate it) and chiropractic visits resolved all other issues. We have kept his teeth in good repair with good brushing, careful diet and frequent dental visits and have been pleased that his only dental work has been repairs to existing work, no new issues. Well, he is 7 now and his permanent teeth are errupting. His 6 year molars have been in his mouth for 2 months and the hygenist says they have "sticky spots" that need small fillings. We have quickly upped our efforts to flouride rinses 2 times a day, xylitol gum between meals and went back to doing all of dental care for him at bedtime (we were just beginning to let him do his own brushing) and we have stashed brushes and toothpaste everywhere so he can brush whenever he eats, even away from home with the goal of reducing the bacteria in his mouth. The hygenist suggested flouride drops as the only option for strengthening his "soft" teeth claiming it is probably too late since his permanent teethare already forming in his jaw but it may lower the amount of bacteria! I have read so much valuable information here that I had to discover for myself when he was a toddler but I place a higher value on his permanent teeth and don't want to make any mistakes. I have terrible teeth and envision his teeth being patched with filling after filling (like mine) until they begin to break apart as he grows to adulthood (like mine). Fortunately, he has had nothing but positive experiences with his pediadentist and has absolutely no fear (like I do) of visiting there. That is the long version, here are a couple of questions:
1. Should we fill these sticky spots or work on remineralizing? I don't want to wait very long, it only took a few months to ruin his baby teeth but I don't want to do fill them if they can repair themselves.
2. Should I try a mineral supplement? Floradix makes a multimineral with herbs and is at my local heath food store and have found their iron+ herbs very effective when I needed it. Anyone have any ideas there?
3. Cod liver Oil? How does that work and what is ECC?
I would appreciate any advice! Sorry for the long post.
Harmony
