to ask how this happens

[firstforthought]

child aged 3 - 4 having to have several teeth removed due to severe damage! I know of 2 children who had this and have to ask how
how excessive does the sugar intake have to be? My dd has something sweet everyday, not sweets so much, but maybe biscuits or chocolate. This petrifies me. We visit the dentist regularly.
There is no choice about brushing teeth twice a day but its not for 2 minutes..
do these kids eat sugar from a bowl? or not brush at all? or is there some underlying problem?
Please enlighten me...

It would be great if there was a dentist on the thread. :)

My dentist advised me to look at her overall diet, for example one of the things she mentioned was sugary yogurts. However all yogurt unless plain is sugary. It is a regular pudding/snack here (and alternatives like fruit or rice pudding, surely have similar amounts of sugar in terms of teeth?)

we have an app tomorrow and she always asks what does dd drink and its always the same answer.... water with a tiny dash of squash or she wouldn't drink!

Drinking fruit juice and then brushing too soon afterwards is another cause.

The juice is acidic and sweet and then you are rubbing it into your teeth.

My dds have lots of biscuits/sweets/treats but they have them as part of their meal rather than spread out during the day. I also don't let them brush their teeth too soon after having had juice.

some kinds of sugar are less damaging than others. So the sugars in dairy products are less damaging than in fruit for example.

Swallowing toothpaste or otherwise ingesting fluoride can be a major issue if done unchecked. It's one thing i really moan about to DD.

Look it up, the extreme results are horrible, the average results are pretty crap too. And for some reason it's not taught as the major issue it is. I don't know why as the results are way worse than too many sweets.

My DD has practically no enamel on her back teeth. Luckily she has only had to have one filling and her adult teeth are fine.

The dentist told me that the lack of enamel is likely due to me having gestational diabetes when I was expecting her.

lack of enamel is also linked to premature births - that could be a possible reason.

dd has appalling teeth and was born too early

that is interesting Garcia. I was borderline diabetic during pg and craved sugar/carbs constantly (well I say constantly, when I wasn't throwing up I mean!)

Prematurity and IUGR can have a bearing on thin or no tooth enamel.

I remember reading about five years ago (I don't think it was in the Daily Mail) that antibiotics taken in pregnancy could lead to poor teeth in babies. My friend's sister had a lot of antibiotics while pregnant (necessary, she was very ill), and her dd had to have about 6 extractions.

sims2fan I've heard that before about crisps..

My dentist told me that genetics do play a very strong part - so far it looks as if both DDs have inherited my teeth - naturally yellowy in colour, a bit wonky but no fillings at 43. I had major cavities in my baby teeth BTW, not enough to need extraction but watched very closely, and I certainy didn't get lots of sweets!

DD2 has one filling - she broke a corner off a baby molar biting something hard and so had it mended as she would have the molar for a good few years yet. DD1 has no fillings at all and not many baby teeth left to go so here's hoping (as DD has horrible teeth and lots of fillings...)

My teeth are rubbish. Yellowy and full of fillings. We were too poor for sugar growing up and always brushed our teeth. Shit genes. My mum has had false teeth since her early 30's

My dentist told me that severe illness in babies and some kinds of antibiotics taken by babies can cause poor enamel in the developing teeth.

She also said that diet plays a part - eating nutritious foods can help prevent tooth decay.

just reread my post meant lots of sugary things not just sugar...my mum put lots of that on cereal and in tea.

My son was four and had to have four/five teeth removed, they partially sedated him. Both my sons had lost their front teeth from decay by the age of four.

I am sorry to say it was my fault, I used to give them baby bottles filled with orange juice/black current and when they were sleeping the teet would be left in their mouths with juice in, so they basically had a hell of a lot of sugar going straight to their teeth.

It was horrible, now at 17 and 23 they have beautiful teeth, but if I had my time again I'd never have given them juice.

Do you have flouride in the water in the UK?

My cousin had to have 6 teeth removed when he was very young. That was because he permanently drank loads of blackcurrant juice.

I think it is to do with with snacking/nibbling throughout the day as opposed to eating sweets.
If you are picking or snacking regularly, even if it is fruit or "healthy" stuff,your mouth reacts to this eating. It is this that erodes the enamel. So even if you fastidiously brush your teeth twice a day, if you are constantly "snacking" you can get fillings.
A friend of mine has 3DCs. The eldest and youngest are girls,aged 4 and 7,they have fillings. The boy doesn't. He eats his 3 meals a day and never snacks. The girls are forever nibbling. Usually fruit,smoothies,yogurts etc. Stuff that is definitely thought of as "healthy". Both girls have had teeth out. She was devastated.
So a sweet treat after a meal is fine,just brush your teeth and don't eat until the next meal.

my 4 yr old has terrible back teeth. Apparently they're crumbling away. I was mortified 'cos he hardly has any swee stuff and brushes every day. First thing the dentist asked me was did he have chicken pox under 12 months old, which he did. He said that's a really common cause of shite teeth as the illness affects the tooth formation.
I asked if his adult teeth would be ok and he said yes, then laughed and said as long as he doesn't get ill whilst they're coming through which filled me with confidence!

I had several fillings as a child (though not that young) despite good brushing, fluoride tablets, and having sweets, juice etc quite strictly rationed.

First dentist I went to told me off very archly for "sucking too many Polos", really annoyed me as he hadn't even asked and we were only allowed sweets once a week!

But later I went to another dentist and he said that sometimes a childhood infection could cause teeth to get damaged and need fillings (mine were mostly in the middle of back teeth, they seemed to sort of open up). Not sure if that was what caused mine but it made me feel better about them.

Just had another thought, DD had fluoride drops, then tablets as we were living in countries without added fluoride. When we moved to Thailand she had her molars filled with silicone as they have really deep crevicies in them. The dentist in Switzerland told me to watch her adult teeth as they would be the same.