Cavities

Boy do I know how you feel. My daughter just turned two and has eight cavities, four of which need work.

Although I've read the kellymom stuff, after reading everything I could find, it seems (in my opinion) that the breastmilk may contribute to an already existing problem. I've seen it supported both ways on here and am not interested in a debate. Just wanted to share that we did decide to night wean and stop nursing to sleep at bedtime, just in case.

Also, I would recommend contacting as many dentists as possible until you find one that feels right for you and your son. We are still looking for a good fit, and have been for over a month. We've seen three dentists and called maybe 20.

We have an appointment next week with a pediatric dentist who uses a laser rather than a drill to fill the teeth. In most cases this eliminates the use of novicaine. She does not use the papoose board either, and welcomes parents into the treatment room. It sounds too good to be true but we're going to check it out.

Please don't settle for just any dentist until you've explored your options. There are MANY - enough to make your head spin.

I know this is a really hard thing to deal with. There is also a lot of information over in the Dental section to sift through. Good luck!

My DS is 22 months. His front top two teeth came in with weak enamel and by 14 months he had a small cavity in one of them. The first dentist we saw was horrible. He told me I had to wean him, said breastmilk was like washing his teeth in sugar, blah blah blah. Needless to say we got a new dentist who is wonderful and said she herself nursed her kids until they were 3. She has been checking his teeth every two months and we are trying to put off having to do fillings until he is old enough to not have to have GA. I have been brushing his teeth twice a day with Spry Tooth gel and so far, his cavity has not gotten any bigger. I also rub a little gel on those two teeth before his nap.

My son came to solids very slowly and only started eating at about 17 months. He still does not eat much food and nurses about every hour during the day and every 1-3 hours all night.

Our 2.5 year old has FOUR cavities, and he is supposed to go under GA in three months to fix them. He is a voracious breast chomper and night nurses multiple times every night.

Our dentist is fairly non-judgemental, we have nursed in his dental chair during x-rays!!

We could never restrain our little love, and the thought of general anethesia for tooth work seems CRAZY!

We are trying to get a secong opinion and hope to wait until he can handle a normal dental visit with gas sedation rather than full blow hospital work...

how can I hold off the cavitiy creeps!!

arrggghhh

he eats so healthy, no soda, no juice...just his "ma hum" and water.

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PLEASE do not put it off, especially being aware of tooth problems. I am a registered dental assistant and up until this past Monday, worked for a dentist. I have seen so many children around this age already needing "baby root canals" due to their parents not getting them in to the dentist regularly. The longer cavities go untreated, the deeper they become. You cannot reverse a cavity or make it smaller, but you can prevent it from getting worse and therefore not end up needing a root canal or a crown. No pain doesn't equal no problems.. some people/kids are just more susceptible to tooth aches than others.

I know most parents are concerned about their children needing GA, but that's mainly because, being so young, dentists will do all that they can to prevent as much of a fear of dentistry in children as possible. They strive not to let children associate dental visits with shots/pain, but the more we, as parents, keep our children from regularly [every 6mos] going in for a checkup, the more pain they will have to endure in the long run.

I hope I'm not coming off as "preachy", I just felt I had some experience and wisdom to share.

It's not necessarily the nursing. My 32 month old has some tooth issues and my pediatric dentist said that the teeth likely came in that way, meaning the staining is intrinsic. We go every 6 months to keep things monitored. Last time the dentist filled a shallow cavity and didn't even need to use sedation or anesthesia because the cavity was so shallow.

Her teeth are likely damaged because of a category C drug that I took through half of my pregnancy.

My pediatric dentist is a wonderful friendly woman who nursed her girls long term, including at night and never had any problems with their teeth.

There are SO many variables in life that cause cavities. Don't feel guilty. Just work on solving the problem. And try to find a supportive dentist! We love our pediatric dentist and she encourages me to keep nursing as long as I want to and to nurse my 2nd child the same way.

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I totally agree with you. My son needed pulp therapy and four crowns at age two- it was not pleasant.

The General Anesthesia is totally for the child's benefit. The procedures took a very long time, and I'm sure it would have been very traumatic and uncomfortable had he been awake.

As it was, he took a long nap and woke up with new teeth and no more pain.

FWIW, my pediatric dentist said my son had poorly developed "soft" enamel, possibly caused by a high fever/virus I had during my pregnancy or a high fever my son had as a baby. BUT, letting him sleep with his teeth bathed in sugary liquid didn't help.