The dentist told me that Caitlin's tooth enamel were badly formed, that is why she gets cavities easily. Badly formed enamel already has lots of pits that trap food. Sigh.
What we can do now is to brush her teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste and at night, we let the toothpaste with fluoride remain on her teeth, and dap a bit of fluoride toothpaste on the cavities. And also, we have to wean her off the night feeds (she can't have fluoride on her teeth and then drink milk right?) which I have already done when I found out that she has so many cavities. Fluoride therapy, the dentist said, would delay the progression of decay until she is old enough to go through the procedure for filling. The brown spots will not go away but will not get deeper, and some beginning decay may remineralise.
Badly formed enamel... that never happened to Kieran. He has nice teeth although two of his molars had decay which were filled. Being experienced with dealing with tooth decay with my older child, I was very diligent with brushing and cleaning of teeth for Caitlin, my second born, so why does the decay still happen? Why was her enamel so weak and badly formed? I'm agonising over these questions. So I did some research.
Breastfeeding mothers does not need to rush to wean their babies off night feeds to prevent decay. In fact research has shown that breast milk can protect baby's teeth from decay. Unfortunately, research has also shown that night nursing exacerbates decay if baby already has cavities. A lot of factors goes into baby tooth decay. It could be genetics, medications mother took while pregnant and affected the formation of baby teeth, mother's health while pregnant with baby, presence of bacteria that caused the decay (the sugar bugs) and of course parents' diligence in brushing and taking care of babies' teeth. I've read that antibiotics caused weak tooth enamel. I'm avoiding antibiotics for my kids unless absolutely necessary. I had a very serious episode of stomach flu that required hospitalisation and strong medication while I was 8 weeks pregnant with Caitlin and I thought that might be the reason for her badly formed enamel. Every time I brush her teeth, or see her smile, and see those cavities, I say sorry to her. I'll take extra good care of her teeth now. I hope she won't have to go through too extreme restorative dentistry work that requires GA, and I certainly pray this won't affect her permanent adult teeth.
Read more about weak tooth enamel here.
Showing posts with label tooth decay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tooth decay. Show all posts
Friday, August 21, 2015
Friday, July 17, 2015
Caitlin's baby bottle caries?
I'm wondering whether Caitlin has baby bottle caries? After discovering a brown spot on her front teeth (and even before), I've been very diligently brushing her teeth. As soon as she know how to spit out water after rinsing her mouth, I am using a fluoride toothpaste on her twice a day. I have high hopes that her condition will get better and the problematic areas will remineralise. But I was wrong! She had a few more cavities lately! I noticed brown spots on the two upper molars (she only has two upper molars now), and a very obvious cavity on one of the front teeth, and both lateral incisors have one brown spot in front and one brown spot behind and a developing small spot in front! A total of 5 teeth affected! All the brown spots are on the upper set of teeth and her lower set of teeth are cavity free and gleaming white. I read online that THIS means it is baby bottle caries or early childhood caries. But you know what is most ironic about it? She does NOT take a bottle at all! Caitlin is a TBF baby, a TOTAL BREASTFED BABY! So how did this baby bottle caries come about?!
I'm so perplexed. I have read many articles that said nursing baby to sleep is not linked to childhood teeth decay. And yet my breastfed baby has baby bottle caries. I must also say that she probably has the bacteria from her older brother who had cavities treated earlier on. But I thought breastmilk is supposed to have anti-bacteria property? This is worrying me to death and I do not want my daughter to have decayed teeth that will cause her pain and embarrassment later in her childhood. I definitely want to help her remedy the situation NOW. But the problem is how? Must I really quit the night nursing? Nursing to sleep is a die-hard habit for her. I tried to get her to sleep without nursing and she cried her heads off. She's a very headstrong girl. She usually needs to feed once or twice in the middle of the night too. After yesterday's failure, hubby and I thought we'll just continue to nurse her and we'll see the dentist on Tuesday to see what we can do for her. Today, I tried something else. I have got this baby toothpaste that has Xylitol (bacteria fighting sugar found in some toothpaste) that is safe to swallow. So after she fell into deep sleep, I put a smear of the toothpaste on her toothbrush and brushed her teeth. She sucked a bit and then went back to sleep. I dunno if this works in the long term. If I have to wake up to brush her teeth every time after she wake up to nurse and then fall back to sleep, I will do it if it means my daughter's teeth will be protected. I can't reach all the teeth with this method but at least the front ones will be brushed.
Sigh. A mother has endless worries.
I feel so frustrated and beaten because I followed expert advices and did so much for my children, and yet problems cannot be avoided. I'm a really sad and worried mummy. As much as possible I would love to avoid the GA option. I can't bear to see my child go through the risk and the operation. Little Caitlin is not calm and composed like her brother. She screams her head off when we step into the doctor's office, before the doctor even touch her. At the dentist, I don't know what will happen.
Please God, please let my daughter be cooperative and please let her be well!
On the brighter side, Kieran's teeth have since been cavity-free and shining. I made sure I brush his teeth after breakfast, lunch and before sleep, and always floss them clean before bedtime.
I'm so perplexed. I have read many articles that said nursing baby to sleep is not linked to childhood teeth decay. And yet my breastfed baby has baby bottle caries. I must also say that she probably has the bacteria from her older brother who had cavities treated earlier on. But I thought breastmilk is supposed to have anti-bacteria property? This is worrying me to death and I do not want my daughter to have decayed teeth that will cause her pain and embarrassment later in her childhood. I definitely want to help her remedy the situation NOW. But the problem is how? Must I really quit the night nursing? Nursing to sleep is a die-hard habit for her. I tried to get her to sleep without nursing and she cried her heads off. She's a very headstrong girl. She usually needs to feed once or twice in the middle of the night too. After yesterday's failure, hubby and I thought we'll just continue to nurse her and we'll see the dentist on Tuesday to see what we can do for her. Today, I tried something else. I have got this baby toothpaste that has Xylitol (bacteria fighting sugar found in some toothpaste) that is safe to swallow. So after she fell into deep sleep, I put a smear of the toothpaste on her toothbrush and brushed her teeth. She sucked a bit and then went back to sleep. I dunno if this works in the long term. If I have to wake up to brush her teeth every time after she wake up to nurse and then fall back to sleep, I will do it if it means my daughter's teeth will be protected. I can't reach all the teeth with this method but at least the front ones will be brushed.
Sigh. A mother has endless worries.
I feel so frustrated and beaten because I followed expert advices and did so much for my children, and yet problems cannot be avoided. I'm a really sad and worried mummy. As much as possible I would love to avoid the GA option. I can't bear to see my child go through the risk and the operation. Little Caitlin is not calm and composed like her brother. She screams her head off when we step into the doctor's office, before the doctor even touch her. At the dentist, I don't know what will happen.
Please God, please let my daughter be cooperative and please let her be well!
On the brighter side, Kieran's teeth have since been cavity-free and shining. I made sure I brush his teeth after breakfast, lunch and before sleep, and always floss them clean before bedtime.
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