Cavities in a nursing toddler..

[Starleigh]

My son, 19 months, has several cavities in his top front teeth. He's an all night nurser. I brush his teeth atleast once a day, always before he goes to bed, and usually some time in the morning. He's always hated having be near his mouth so it's a struggle. He has yet to see a dentist. (none locally that I can take him to)

His doctor has seen his teeth and she knows what's going on. I really like her, she's wonderful. I had poked around a bit online and came to the conclusion that I'd like to wait and see, and get him help should his teeth become painful. I was surprised when that's exactly what she recommended. She had the personal experience of her granddaughter. Much like my son she nursed and had carries. Hated the toothbrush, and when her daughter took her in the dentist suggested some work, but also said that if she wasn't in obvious pain it would be okay to wait and see. He said work at that age, without the pressence of pain, was purely cosmetic. Her daughter did wait and see, and when her daughter was around three she became easy going about toothbrushing. Over time the dark spots of the decay dissapeared, but the pitting remained. I'm hoping that I have a similar outcome with my son.

I was wondering, has anybody else taken a wait and see aproach and made it to the time the teeth naturally loosen and fall out without major work?

[sarahariz]

wait and see

I would love to know this too. I spoke to one mom whose child is now 8. When he was about 3, all this dental work was recommended but she didn't do it because he wasn't in pain. She said by the time the teeth fell out, they were "little brown nubs," but his permanent teeth came in beautifully.

[ZeldasMom]

3 families in my homebirth group have had this. 2 have had the teeth capped while the child was under GA. In the other case the child was older (3yo) and his teeth were repaired wihout pain medicine while his mother held him (by a very cool pediatric dentist).

[JBird]

I don't mean to scare you, but we are dealing with this right now. My son is 21 mos old, and he may lose two of his front teeth bc we waited. We were actually told by my dentist friend that my son had malformed teeth and not too worry too much - just to have him seen when he was 2. It got dramatically worse in the last 3 mos. He eats no sugar, no yogurt (doesn't like), no juice (doesn't like). I am pretty adamant though that he have his teeth worked on with only local. Actually tomorrow morning, they are going to scoop out the decay without a local and paint some composite filling on. Moisture control is a problem at this age though.

This is all very puzzling to me bc I was nursed until I was 2, and I nursed a lot at night. I didn't have a single cavity until age 27 when I was pregnant.

I feel guilty that I waited so long to have this taken care of - out of fear. Now it may be too late and we may be looking at extraction and maybe in the OR.

[tess112501]

Hi,

We are in the same boat. My DD is 21 months old and has 2 decayed and now chipped teeth (the ones on either side of her top front teeth) and one of her top front teeth is starting to show signs of decay. We saw 2 dentists and the second one recommended a wait and see approach. He suggested I night wean (or wipe off her teeth after she nurses) and prescribed a fluoride gel called Prevident. I am supposed to use the very smallest bit of gel on her teeth before bed and I need to clean her teeth after almost everything she eats during the day. He hopes we can stop the decay from progressing any further and save these teeth.

Night weaning is controversial and I'm not even sure myself how I feel about it. He said that night nursing likely didn't cause the cavities to beging with but said that now that her teeth are decayed, anything that is left on them will make it worse.

If you are having trouble brushing his teeth, maybe Spiffies tooth wipes would work better for you. They are made with Xylitol and I use them in between toothbrushing, especially if we are out. I bought them at Whole Foods and my DD tolerates them, if she doesn't exactly love them.

We are supposed to go back to the dentist in January to see how things look, unless she seems like she is in pain, or unless it looks like things are getting much worse. Good luck to us all!

[JBird]

Tess - does your dentist say this for kids who have their cavities filled as well as ones that don't have them filled? I didn't know if this made a difference at all. We just had our son's filled today, and i am so torn about continuing with the night nursing. I've called LLL and they encourage me to continue and sight reasons why night nursing isn't an indicator, but I still feel so guilty and torn.

Jennifer

[tess112501]

Hi Jennifer,

I did ask him about this, and his opinion is that night nursing should stop even if the tooth is filled because the filled tooth, especially a primary one, is not as strong as one that isn't filled. He said that more decay could pop up around the filled area. I honestly don't know what to believe - I read and hear so much conflicting info regarding night nursing and cavities. We have decided to try and night wean - last night was the first night, and she went to sleep no problem while "holding" the "nunnies" and slept until 6 am. That's never happened before - I was so surprised! I don't expect every night will be this way, though, and if it gets bad, I'm sure I'll back off.

I know how you feel. I also feel so conflicted and guilty no matter what I choose to do. Either way, I feel that on some level I'm making the wrong choice. This is very difficult. Good luck with your situation.

Theresa