to get my judgey pants on and pull them up HIGH...

[NoWayNoHow]

... when I see pre-school children with rotten/rotting teeth?

Oh ,noWayNoHow Thanks for saying sorry :)

Don't be sad .

At least, now you know !

Don't be sad NoWayNoHow

I see lots of young children with rotting teeth and assumed it was nearly always coke in a bottle. I didn't know about some of these things.
Thanks for making the thread, I have been educated. :)

My 11 year old eats sweets and won't brush his teeth unless forced to and then does a dreadful job.

When he went to the orthodontist recently I made him have a REALLY good brush beforehand. The orthodontist still mentioned the "very poor brushing" and scraped off a whole load of gunk. < shudder >

He hasn't got a single filling . . . I have no idea why.

I expect there are children the same age with ten fillings who never eat sweets and brush meticulously and their parents are mystified too.

NoWayNoHow, your OP seemed fair enough to me. I've been educated by this thread - which is good -but I think that most of the flaming was gratuitously offensive. Chin up.

no way no how

Don't worry pet one of the good things about MN is that we all find out things we didn't know we didn't know.You live and you learn.

My six year old has very dodgy teeth, I think it was breastfeeding him at bedtime (after tooth brushing) that contributed to that. Also anything starchy that sticks in teeth can lead to damage so my middle class snacks of rich cakes and dry crackers (not to mention raisins and fruit) probably didn't help.

I think they should put flouride in the water.

DS1's teeth died and had to be removed because of frequent falls. The nurses in the ward where he had the GA were vile, talk about judgy! Oddly, once they understood that his tooth damage was caused by falls rather than by decay, they became as nice as pie. Pack of witches.

I have 4 children who have identical diets and teethbrushing routines, My eldest 2 have perfect teeth , but the younger 2 have had to have 2 small fillings each (fortunately done without anaesthesia so no horrid needles).

I was distraught about this, and the dentist told me how strong teeth are is also thanks to genetics, not just down to external factors, and for some children the milk teeth are very weak and prone to decay.

They have fluoride gel coated onto their teeth every 3 months as a preventative measure, regular check ups, brush twice a day, use mouthwash, and have a decent diet that isn't too sugary, what more can I do?

Of course there are parents that CBA, but YABU to judge on first appearances.

I don't think you should be flamed though, I know before I went through this I did judge if i saw a dc with bad teeth. Life is a learning curve though!

Weaknesses in milk teeth can be caused by all sorts of things. DS1 had a cavity in the same tooth on different sides of his mouth. Those teeth developed at the same time as him running his first, massively high temperature and the dentist thinks that may have affected the development of his enamel. One split and became an abcess (mainly down to bad bad dental advice we received ) and had to be extracted and the other is massively decayed and filled. Apart from that, all other teeth fine.

Good on you for the apology. You live and learn, eh?!

Aw NoWay don't be sad.
I'm also now thinking you're lovely.

My second son's molars all came through without enamel-it was horrible and painful for him and I still get tearful thinking about it. He had to have caps at 2 1/2 but now at 16 has perfect teeth, thank the lord
My other three all have perfect teeth, our dentist said it was just random.
I'd forgotten how upsetting it was!

YANBU if the children have rotten teeth but the parents do nothing about it.

Glad you know now. Want to add that I have no fillings and have at times not treated my teeth with the respect they deserve. People doing things they don't understand are not IMO responsible for the consequences. Eg if my children get rotten teeth it will be because of well intentioned dried fruit snacks. Nothing different in that to someone who genuinely doesn't understand about he dangers of sugary drinks in bottles. And yes they exist.

Ds2 is having 6 baby teeth out next week and I'm mortified about it. He's been so good at brushing them but his enamel didn't form properly due to a trauma, a recorder type thing went through the roof of his mouth which still have nightmares about, when he was about 1.

He's terrified of the dentist so by the time we got on the books of a specialist children's dentist it was too late.

I can't tell you how upset I am about it, he doesn't have sweets or fizzy drinks in fact he couldn't have a better diet. I know everyone will judge me without knowing why

Another one here whose dd's teeth have been damaged due to illness/antiobiotics. I judged myself horribly until dentist explained what had happened. Funny really, there are all sorts of things that don't work with dd's body, but this was the only one I felt guilty about.

I'm about to pay £1,200 I haven't got to sort out my 7 year olds teeth, do I sound like I couldn't give a toss ?
I have no idea why her milk teeth have holes, neither does my or the hospital dentist, we've done diet sheets, disclosing tablets and teeth cleaning at the dentists exercises. It's still a mystery.

my dd's got the same condition as yours, cory

we have been visiting the dental hosp since she was 4, and she's had untold treatment. They'd hoped that her adult teeth would be better, but now they're coming through just as bad

I do find, tho, every time we get a new student, they make comments about "too many sweeties" etc- until they read her file. It does piss me off. Luckily I can show them her twin, who has exactly the same diet (and- if anything- a somewhat less rigorous teethcleaning regime!) and perfect pearly white gnashers

oh, and thanks for being so gracious, OP. V sweet of you

My ds has two bad teeth in the front because he feel over when he was about 18 months (He's now 4) and chipped them badly hence the rotting. I feel awful for him and always think that people will think because I I'm a young mother that I don't look after him properly or brush his teeth. I know thats ridiculous but its true. I've had quite a few people mention them to me as well :(

My ds was born with no enamel on his top teeth and at 3yrs old has had to have them capped. He then fell over and knocked one out in the hospital and a few months later in the playground at nursery so next week he has to get them capped again.

It's horrible as his teeth have no protection. He brushes them 3 times a day with prescription strength toothpaste and mouthwash and any food or drink wears them away :(

We've never had any bad comments though, a few people ask if he's damaged then from a fall as they erode I guess it does look like that.

Well done OP for apologising. I guess if you've had no experience of it it's understandable where your initial reaction came from :)

I forgot to add that all his other teeth are in perfect condition, so I feel bad for him that the teeth that show are the enamel free ones.

My poor little ds has terrible enamel too, his teeth were discoloured and rotting as they came through .

Unlike most of the other posters, I was told repeatedly by our dentist that there was nothing that could be done, he would just have to cope until his big teeth came through.

I am now feeling even worse that if I had persisted something may have been done.

Oh and I was told that it was because I had terrible morning sickness that his teeth were so bad.

Fruit loop I had hyperemesis but the top paediatric dentist in Scotland told us that it couldn't have been that that caused it as for us it was only ds's top 4 front teeth and the top 4 and bottom 4 teeth develop at the same time.

Like your ds, my ds's teeth that were affected came through discoloured and rotting. Our dentist reffered us on as he'd never seen it before. How old is your ds now? Are his teeth any better?