Dental Decay

[nijinsky]

DP has bad teeth and has just had another one taken out. I have good teeth with no such problems. DP says it is genetic and this is proven by the fact that he has had problems with his teeth since childhood. I say it is down to poor dental hygiene and that children don't experience dental problems unless their dental hygiene is at fault. I brushed my teeth religiously twice a day; he admits to not brushing his teeth every day.

DP's whole family say the same thing, except the brother, who has excellent teeth. I say most dentists would agree with me. Am I being U or not in my opinion?

(My parents both had terrible teeth, as did grandparents).

Is poor dental hygiene not passed down through generations as well? Surely if you know you have dental decay, you can arrest its worst effects for a certain amount of time by practising good dental hygiene? If for example, your child is showing signs of dental decay and is getting fillings, you should ensure that they brush their teeth at least twice a day and minimise sugar intake? Rather than just sitting back and saying its all down to poor genetics - which is quite hard to know for certain.

Hmmn, coca cola. As well as practising good dental hygiene, I also have to admit to spending most of my life drinking coca cola as pretty much the only thing I ever drank. I'm wondering if it is as bad for your teeth as some other drinks, such as tea and coffee (which I never drink).

If you NEVER ate sugar you would not get dental decay

Not true.

I think YABU. I have excellent teeth (no fillings, no extractions), and my mum wasn't precious at all about my diet when I was younger- I had sweets and fizzy drinks (I was the soda stream generation!) but the dentist always remarks on my "good teeth". Similarly (so far) my dc seem to be following suit, although admittedly I am more diet and brushing aware than my mum was.

I do believe that there could well be a genetic link to teeth problems. One of the reasons I think that is that as a vet, I see lots of dogs, and certain breeds seem far more disposed to tartar build up than others, despite a similar diet and concientious owners. I'm sure I read somewhere that the composition of saliva varies and this can affect tartar/ calculus build up.

I also have to admit to spending most of my life drinking coca cola as pretty much the only thing I ever drank. I'm wondering if it is as bad for your teeth as some other drinks, such as tea and coffee

Try putting a tooth in a cup of coke. It will all but gone in a few days. A can of coke has 8 teaspoons of sugar in it.

There are lots of reasons that children/adults experience tooth decay. I am a dental nurse, have over 15yr experience. I brush my children's teeth. They are 7 & 2. My eldest recently needed 2 fillings. The dentist says she has weak enamel (like me - so there you go, genetic) and she was surprised that her teeth were only slightly decayed.

It happens! So yes, I believe you are being unreasonable.

Oh & your advice to brush after drinking/eating 'sugar' products. Wrong!

You should not brush for at least 20 minutes. If you do straight away, you are literally brushing acid around your mouth, which damages the enamel quicker than you could imagine.

Oh & it isn't all the fault of sugar! Your teeth undergo an acid attack after every time you eat.

Acidic things are just as bad for your teeth.

"Oh & your advice to brush after drinking/eating 'sugar' products. Wrong!

You should not brush for at least 20 minutes. If you do straight away, you are literally brushing acid around your mouth, which damages the enamel quicker than you could imagine."

I seem to have a fine eye for detail tonight, but without wishing to be pedantic, that is after eating or drinking sugar products.

Going to leave this thread now, as it is turning into one of those pointlessly circular AIBU threads where the vast majority of replies say the OP is BU but the OP refuses to accept any opinion other than her own.

DH hadn't been to a dentist since his mum made him. Then he met me and I made him go.

18 years, poor dental hygiene, gallon upon gallon of coke, coffee and red wine, half a Haribo factory of sweets.

A bloody scale and polish.

I have always been fanatical about keeping my teeth in good condition, as were my parents, and I have every one of them filled. And they are crooked. And yellow.

Our sons have straight, even, perfect white teeth. Our daughter has already had one filling at age 10, and will need a brace in the near future.

I see you don't want to accept that it is inherited, but both my parents have awful teeth despite trying to care for them. DH's mum had her first filling 2 years ago at the age of 78.

piprabbit Agreed!

The OP, for example, is a prat...

Gum disease is hereditary, you can try to thwart it but you can't stop it.

OP, YABU.

I have perfect teeth - 35 years old, not a single filling. Went for a scale and polish at the hygeinist the other day after 7 years of not (long story) and she said there "wasn't much to do" and asked me how long it had been (assuming 6 months or something and dentist had referred me unnecessarily) and her jaw dropped when I said 7 years.

I practised pretty dubious teeth hygeine as a child and early teens - it wasn't until I started kissing boys I bothered to properly clean my teeth or floss. We used to wet our toothbrushes so mum would think we had cleaned! And we ate plenty of sugar and other crap as well.

Yet my mother has dreadful teeth, had good tooth hygeine, could never afford sweets apparently, but grew up in a town with non flouridated water.

She took flouride tablets when pregnant or breastfeeding (can't remember which, dont advise it these days) as she was so paranoid about us having her terrible teeth.

Some people just have teflon teeth. I am one of them. I could easily judge those that dont and assume that with my semi-dubious past, they must have done something much much worse but I know its not like that.

Op have a

Don't forget to brush your teeth after.

FFS.

Wasn't there something about eating a piece of cheese after your meal to help remineralise teeth and cut down on decay. Think it was something to do with the amount of calcium in the cheese.

I think that it's because cheese nuetralizes the acid in your mouth Cymar.

OP, attitudes like yours cause distress to people who've done everything they could to ensure their children have good teeth, but have been affected by problems regardless.

My son had an xray before his second teeth came through and the dentist could see that not all of them were forming correctly. At this point, they were still in the gum and not visible (except on an xray) at all. How can that be due to too much sugar/not brushing properly?

Sometimes a mother will pick up an infection during pg. She might not even remember being ill, but it has happened at the time when tooth formation is occurring for the baby. This isn't apparent at birth and only becomes obvious when the baby teeth are not very strong and decay more easily than you were expect.

Sometimes a child will be given antibiotics at a very young age. Sometimes a pg woman will be given antibiotics. Sometimes a baby will be ill and the teeth are affected. I believe prematurity at birth is also a factor for some children.And, of course, genetics play a part.

No one can pin point exact causes of dental problems.

If your child is affected, you as a parent are more likely to have a very good dental regime because you are trying to minimise the damage and protect their teeth as much as possible.

ive got 4 children
2 have to have their teeth coated as the dentist said there wasnt enough protective enamel and the teeth were porous(sp)
so if you dont have the right strength enamel your teeth are going to decay and that is genetic.

Dental hygiene is important, though, definitely decreases the risk of problems by an awful lot. I think that might be the core of OP's dispute.

Dentists always mention (I go a lot so I hear this often) that I have thin enamel, that's a result of how they grew, nothing I ever did. Puts me at risk for lots of dental problems. I grew up in a fluoridated water area, too. DH grew up without fluoridated water, goes to the blardy dentist once every 5 years; they always say he has early gum disease... it takes 4 weeks to rectify and he's off again. He hasn't got a single filling & I have a mouthful of them.

Ruddy Unfair (weannnhhh!!!)

wfrances but you took sensible action to ensure you were doing the best for your child's teeth once you found out that they had weak enamel.

Weak enamel on its own will not lead to tooth decay in most cases, except over many years. Weak enamel plus build up of plaque will. Therefore its simply common sense that if your child is needing a lot of fillings, you need to do your best to ensure that they brush regularly and avoid sweet fizzy drinks, etc.

In the case of DP, while he might have had weak enamel (although this hasn't been mentioned by his dentist), the fact that he didn't brush his teeth even on a daily basis while a child has certainly allowed plaque to wreak damage. This is not rocket science.

Sorry if I sound shocked, but I've never actually come across someone who didn't brush their teeth regularly (and he didn't do until meeting me) and I only found it out recently. He seems to think the two concepts completely unrelated.

I went to a talk by a paediatric dentist the other day who said that many of the issues he sees in very small children with decay correlate with children with teeth still having multiple night feeds, when the saliva flow is much less. This can cause decay even though they may otherwise have an exemplary diet.