Not great news from the dentist for my 3yo - please help!

[Pagetta]

My DS is turning three next week. Today i took him for his second trip to the dentist.

First time they just had a quick glance said all ok.

This time he sat him in the chair propelry and has identified a 'tooth to keep an eye on' and queried me on his diet.

I am absolutely mortified. I really thought we were vigilant but I'd really appreciate any advice.

• We brush twice a day, morning and evening
  
• he is rarely alloed sweets/lollies
  
• he rarely has dried fruit
  
• he drinks pretty much only water and oat milk all week. On weekends he is allowed (very weak) high juice and watered down fruit juice. Things like capri sun or fruit shoots are at parties only (or grandparents).
  
• he does like cake and biscuits. when he gets home from childcare he will usually have a fig roll or a little chocolate with his milk in the evening.
  

I think the main culprits are fruit and honey. He is a fruit FIEND - bananas grapes and apples especially. and absolutely loves honey too. We sometimes put some in his porridge and i know he has honey sandwiches at the childminders 1/2 times a week.

The other thing is fizzy water - we let him have it as a treat as we thought was a healthy alternative to juice or pop.

I feel like i've totally let him down. Any advice or changes we could make would be hugely welcome.

[Whoknewitcouldbeso]

Bloody hell we sound pretty similar and I thought my child's teeth were going to be great because of it.

I wouldn't say my son is a fruit fiend but he eats fruit. The things I don't allow because of teeth are stuff like juice, raisins etc. He just drinks water or milk. Honey in his porridge of a morning. I can't help but wonder if he may have inherited weak teeth maybe?

Dunno, but I'll be reading this thread with interest.

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

Honey is really bad for teeth. Also daily cake and biscuits. Fruit and fruit juice are better as part of a meal. There is a lot of scope for improvement there although his diet sounds really nicely balanced :)

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

Honey is bad because it sticks to teeth

[TillITookAnArrowToTheKnee]

DDs 7&4 went yesterday, not the first visit but a routine check up.

DD4s were fine, she put the fluoride paste on, all good.

DD7 has a tiny cavity one of her adult back teeth, and screeched the place down and wouldn't allow dentist to sort it - all it it involved was a 'shower' and the suction. Booked it for next week.

Dentist bollocked me and insisted I must give them fizzy pop - I fucking don't, DD7 doesn't like anything fizzy, DD4 has never even tried it (and she has no sweet tooth at all, won't eat chocolate/cake etc) and they both only drink water/milk with the very occasional smoothie/milkshake. She also told me I absolutely had to brush their teeth for them, even the 7YO. I was a bit

[AbeSaidYes]

yep - I had this too.

The main culprit is often not cleaning teeth for long enough. Do you do it for the whole two minutes or just a quick 40 second brush.

Also things like crisps which stick to the teeth.

FWIW my son is almost 5 and his bad tooth hasn't got any worse so I am hoping as it's one of the front ones he might be OK until his big teeth come through.

makes you feel like shit doesn't it :(

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

Yes it is recommended to brush their teeth until they are 8

[TillITookAnArrowToTheKnee]

Sorry, posted too soon.

Both have electric tooth brushes and use Colgate Max Protection kids toothpaste as recommended by the previous dentist. Twice a day, 2 mins, supervised by me. Not good enough apparently.

[VeryPunny]

Sparkling water has a low pH so not great for teeth.

How frequently is he eating? Is it breakfast - lunch - dinner or breakfast - snack - little nibble here - lunch - snack - treat at pickuip - tea - supper? You need to give the pH in the mouth time to recover to a neutral pH after eating, but if you're constantly snacking this is difficult to achieve. Google Stephan curves for more info.

I wouldn't be impressed by a CM giving him honey sandwiches, and you say he doesn't have dried fruit but a fig roll is made up of dried fruit....

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

No one should feel crap. I have to say DD eats lots of the wrong things and won't let me brush her teeth much. She is 9(ASD). She must just have super high levels of plaque fighting bacteria or something.

So I am not saying the stuff I am to be judgy it's just what I hear working at dentist.

[TheAuthoress]

Regular snacking can cause this. Fruit is just as bad as sweets or chocolate for their teeth.

So between meals should only be water and if they must snack, get them to eat a cube of cheese after, it helps neutralise the acid that causes tooth decay. Fruit juice etc should given at mealtimes only. Fruit can be given after a meal as pudding.

Each time we eat it's like an attack on our teeth, so the idea is to minimise the number of attacks as that's what causes tooth decay and erosion.

[momb]

Oat milk OP?
Does he get any calcium?

Our dentist always stresses regular brushing and drinking milk every day.
If there's a reason he can't have dairy find a calcium supplement which will be absorbed.

[Mrsmorton]

You should brush your children's teeth until you let them wash their own hair IMO. this guy explains things very well.

If dd has a cavity in an adult tooth then there is an issue somewhere. Whether it's diet, brushing or the MN myth catch all of"weak enamel".

You can but I'm sure if she gets an abscess, you'll kind of wish you had brushed them for her.

[TillITookAnArrowToTheKnee]

mrsmorton Why have the previous dentists we have seen at the practice not told me that then? Each dentist has asked and this is the first one to have made me feel like shit when I had no idea I was supposed to do it myself - no other dentists told me to do it myself.

I've had abscesses on both my wisdom teeth, needing antibs and both teeth removing because I smoked too much so I know damn well how painful it is and I would never want DDs to suffer that, hence taking them to the dentist since their very first teeth poked through, always used electric tooth brush once they said they were old enough and used the correct tooth paste.

[Pagetta]

wow thank you for all the replies its great to get some advice so quickly!
He has oat milk as he has a bit of a dairy intolerance - we buy it with added calcium as per dentists suggestion. He gets lots of other dairy in his meals, but cows milk as a drink sets his eczema right off.

RE: snacking - he is in full time childcare.
his typical diet is:

cereal/ porridge and fruit at breakkie with oat milk (WITH US)
morning snack (usually fruit also)
lunch (full meal at nursery / sandwiches etc at CM)
afternoon snack (crackers and toppings a nursery, fruit or veg sticks at CM)
dinner (meal at CM / Sandwiches at nursery)
then he has a little snack and milk when he gets in (sorry - realised fig rolls are dried fruit after i posted!)

weekends are more haphazard. He will have more treats and he wats a lot of yoghurt too but generally the Fage natural yoghurt - we add honey or fruit to sweeten instead of buying flavoured stuff.

There is no way i could get him to eat three square meals with no snacks - he is a hungry child! he won't eat carrot sticks for love nor money. ritz or tuc biscuits go down well though.

i think we'll stop the sparkling water and minimise honey (will have to speak to CM!)
Dentist suggested

• drink water after snacks to rinse off teeth
  
• eat hard cheese after meal to neutralise sugars
  
• brush teeth quickly 20 mins after a snack

[Mrsmorton]

Not all dentists have the same opinions. That's why I said IMO. Perhaps mine is coloured by the number of children I see at OOH.

[Costacoffeeplease]

Sparkling water is really bad for teeth

[Mrsmorton]

OP, read my link. Decay is all about the stephan curve and you are hitting danger during the week. If weekends are worse then that's no good at all.

[Pagetta]

@mrsmorton - lol i thought stephan curves was a person!

[BlueThursday]

Should he not have had more visits than 2 at this age? My dentist recommends every 6 months so DD will be due her 2nd in the new year when she is 1

[Mrsmorton]

well, stephan must have been. No idea ref his curves tho.

[Pagetta]

We were advised when he's about 2 to start taking him.

[BlueThursday]

Really? Is my dentist going overboard then

[TillITookAnArrowToTheKnee]

mrsmorton Yowch, I can't imagine how bad that must be. It was painful enough as an adult with copious amounts of codiene, let alone in children. Fortunately DDs haven't resisted the change in routine so far and hopefully DD will be more cooperative next week

[Pagetta]

i don't know i hear all different advice! i'll be honest (and its no excuse!) working full time I find its a nightmare to get to dentist as it is, so it was a good while later than we intended with his first visit. But last time he said all was fine!

[Mrsmorton]

It's a nightmare. Largely the children have not been to the dentist before "I didn't think he needed to go yet" he's 7 FFS!! So can't do any treatment. Can only prescribe them antibiotics and calpol. Child is in tears, parent expects us to fix it!! And also denies any sugar ever despite me watching the child get out of the car with a can of Coke. So yeah, unsatisfactory all round!!!