To be utterly ashamed and desperately guilty that DD has just had to have 3 fillings?

[DarcyBee]

As a child I was allowed sweets once a week and now have pretty good teeth. DH was allowed free rein and subsequently had 4 rotten front teeth bby the age of 4.

I thought I would be less militant than my parents with my DC's and allowed them biscuits and chocolate - no sweets or fizzy/sugary drinks though.

DD is 6 and has just had 3 fillings, we now allow them a chocolate bar on saturdays but I feel terrible.

I think a lot of tooth problems are genetic. DD drinks fizzy pop and the dentist always compliments her teeth. I am religious about brushing them though and she has an electric toothbrush. I let her have a go when I'm done but they always get a proper brush.

Just to second the dried fruit being the root (no pun intended) of all evil. My dentist rates red bull, fizzy drinks, raisins, beans and tomato sauce as being the worst offenders.

My DS1 had to have tooth out due to an abscess and a major filling aged 3. I felt so, so guilty and couldn't figure out what I had done wrong.

The dentist said they can have weaker teeth for all sorts of reasons. Like... their mother had a virus at a particular point in the pregnancy... they had a virus at a point when their teeth were developing as young babies... the list goes on.

I saw your other thread too. Please don't feel bad. It's been caught in time and her teeth are being cared for.

Oh, and btw, when DS had his, single tooth out we were in the waiting room with another mum and her DS waiting to have three out (and returning for a further four out the following week) due to a type of genetic weakness.

All true but the number of children with "genetic weaknesses" of their teeth is far far far outweighed by the number of children who have decay due to sugar in their diet. In fact, I treated children solely for a year and I probably saw fewer than 100 with genetic problems and thousands with the wrong diet.

I really cannot emphasise that enough. Without sugar, teeth will not decay. Even the genetically weak ones won't. It's only in cases where the inside of the teeth hasn't formed correctly (due to a connective tissue disorder) that teeth fall apart without sugar but then that's not even decay and sugar plays no part in that.

Connective tissue disorder - wouldn't be along the lines of Ehlers-Danloss would it? Just wondering?

More like brittle bone disease (osteogenesis imperfecta). This is just one type though, there are several but no, not Ehlers-Danlos.

Ehlers-Danlos can cause the deep fissures though and other abnormalities but similar to the ones cause by childhood measles etc. (Enamel hypoplasia)

To get tooth decay you need susceptible teeth, bacteria (plaque) and sugar. use fluoride to make teeth less susceptible, clean teeth to reduce plaque, watch your diet to reduce frequency of sugar intake.

You need to read labels on all food packaging. Anything with any added sugar (look out for glucose, fructose, sucrose, anything - ose, any kind of syrup eg corn syrup) will rot teeth. Beware of some things that look savoury but are full of sugar (tinned soups, baked beans). Dried fruit is a major culprit as it is not only sugary but very sticky too. Remember those children's cereal bars are sweetened with fruit juices. Sugar basically.

Drinks are also a mine field. I would restrict juice and fizz to meal times only, including squash, diet / sugar free. Diet / sugar free are still acidic and will promote if not actually cause decay, and will cause erosion (often harder to repair than decay). Drinks between meals should be water (not fizzy), milk or unsweetened tea / coffee (maybe not for a 6 year old though!).

Unfortunately you do need to be strict with the no sugar between meals rule. I would suggest that treats are saved to be had as "pudding" and not eaten between meals. If snacks are required offer something savoury: toast with marmite, a piece of cheese. I always worry that some of those fruit - flavoured rice cakes are too sticky and sweet: DS has the marmite ones instead.

I would suggest a check up after 3 months this time, rather than 6 just to reassure and double check. 6 monthly fluoride varnish application is ideal. Disclosing tablets used at bed time to target brushing properly. My rule of thumb is that a child is able to clean their own teeth unsupervised if they can bathe and wash their own hair alone. This is usually at least aged 8, often much later.

Make sure where possible any regular medications are supplied in sugar free formulations. Communicate with anyone who looks after your child regularly to ensure they understand the rules....how much of a treat is a sweet when it results in dental treatment?

Don't feel ashamed or guilty. These things happen. I'm sure that you will take the appropriate steps to change the habits to stop new cavities forming. I have seen children with very decayed baby teeth go on to have completely decay - free adult ones. Also, please don't be disappointed if you find that the fillings done today need replacing in due course, once filled teeth can be harder to clean and more vulnerable.

the other thing is portion size of sweets desserts etc, loads of people give age appropiate portions of meat veg and potato bread cereal etc, but as soon as it comes to dessert everyone has same size icecream
a portion of icecream for 2 year old would be about 1 dessert spoonful and half a finger of a kitkat not 2 fingers bar
although i am a dentist i do allow DD who is 21 months the occasionally chocolate/sweet she gets 3-4 white chocolate buttons ( the small packet they come in is way way too many) she does love raisins though she can already dissect them out of any cake or biscuit with surgical precision and thn leave the rest, but brushing is the key

enamel defects are rare 95-98 % of decay in children is due to too much sugar and not enough brushing

if you know your child has an enamel defect you have to get them more fluoride more brushing and much less sugar than average as average intake would cause way more than average disease levels

I used to work in a fairly deprived area of Birmingham ( which has had fluoride since 1966) and in 3 years treated very little decay and extracted about 3 baby teeth, i then moved to west coast of scotland and treated more decay in 3 weeks than in previous 3 years,

agree with sprinkles your child can go on and have decay free adult teeth

but now she is 6 her first adult teeth will be new molars at the back not her front teeth some maske the mistake of thinking they are baby teeth and not bothered about them being cleaned the first molar is the most common adult tooth to have a filling in so watch for it coming in and as DD has had decay it should be fissure sealed as soon as whole tooth is in mouth

She possibly just inherited her father's tendency to have weak teeth. I think the biscuits are probably a red herring, fruit and fruit juice are probably more harmful to teeth than biscuits. Chocolate is not that bad for teeth as it melts away and doesn't hang around in the mouth eroding them, also it's not that acidic. I think other factors also contribute to decay, e.g. time of eating food, time of brushing teeth, fluoride ingested etc.

Try not to beat yourself up. My DD also got a filling aged 4, so I know how you feel.

Just been to the dentist today too, to find out both my 5 and 8 year olds have a tiny hole each . Also my dd will need a brace in the future as her adult teeth coming in are very crowded. No need to feel terrible, you can only do your best, I'm taking the dentists advice and limiting treats to after mealtimes and down with the juice, also going to get them electric toothbrushes and a timer and make sure I supervise, dd especially is very lazy in the self care department.

I also need a filling replacing, boo again and double boo that the gorgeous, happy, kind dentist I was a little bit in love with has gone.

My mum had to have six at once as a child.

Not a particularly sugary diet either - just ineffective brushing.

fruit can also cause tooth decay

Following on from people recommending the fluoride varnish, you could also ask your dentist about pit and fissure sealants for your DDs teeth - this can be really effective on molars if they have particularly deep pits and grooves on the biting surface. It's covered under NHS treatment (it's a Band 2 charge for adults, but obviously free for those under 18), although my dentist has said this may change soon with cuts etc.

Try not to feel too bad about it, if you know you're doing everything you can to keep your DDs teeth clean there isn't a lot else you can do!

Fissure sealants are helpful. However they work best where children are very cooperative (able to sit still, keep their mouths open and tongue out the way for at least 90 seconds) in my experience. That's a tall order for the average 6 year old. Where this is not possible the seal is likely to be imperfect, allowing some leakage of saliva under the sealant. This can actually allow tooth decay to progress unnoticed. I have seen a few cases like this, one where the child had to have the tooth removed , though there were other factors involved in that case. Children who are that cooperative tend also to be the ones who brush well, so need them the least. I tend to advise fissure sealants for otherwise cooperative children (and sometimes adults) with specific needs (unusually deep fissures, taking sugary medications or meds that make their mouths dry, disability that makes brushing awkward, etc). That's not to say I wouldn't place them if asked, if a child was cooperative. If the child cannot yet cooperate, fluoride varnish is the best option, is safe, quick, easy and tastes lovely!

My ds is 16 and has never had a filling.
It still astonishes me because he's had sweets and snacks all his life.
He never liked fizzy drinks until he was about 11 and his teeth are still fine.
I've lost count of the number of fillings I've had in my life (I'm getting old), I honestly believe that some children just have stronger teeth than others.

Both my dc have had filling at 5 and 7. I felt awful too. However, neither dentist made me feel bad.

Apple juice can be really bad for children's teeth - very acidic. Best to stick to milk and water. My three dc now in twenties with no fillings.