to think this little girl badly needs to dental treatment. Should I say anything?

[ilovehugs]

A new family has moved in across the road. They have a little girl who my DD has made friends with. She is lovely. Bright, bubbly happy and healthy but has SEVERE tooth decay. My DD had tooth decay (now resolved for over two years) and sees a specialist dentist to give her teeth extra protection. As a result, I'm very clued up now on how painful and damaging, short and long term tooth decay of this level can be if left. All her teeth are badly decayed. She showed me her 'new tooth' today, which was her top front tooth emerging deformed with a black tip next to four black patches (teeth rotted away to nothing) flush with her gum. When she smiles, her bottom teeth are very obviously decayed also. Also her upper lip is constantly swollen from the infection. Her breath smells and I think it's probably because of the very severe decay. She is fiddling with her mouth all the time. The family is new to the UK and may not have had the knowledge of how to look after her teeth, they may not have had access to dentists. It really is very severe. I don't know if I should try and talk to the mum. I will probably really offend her. What should I do?

I think its £30-£50 a filling and £20 for fissure seals. They do caps as well for very decayed teeth.

Finding an NHS dentist that will take a new patient might not be that easy.

Hmmm - all the dentists around here take on children under NHS - but they may not have done where she lived before.

None of the dentists in town will take kids, we go to the NHS clinic, but I've googled and found some paed dentists in the nearest big town.

The dentist told me that it was impossible to fill milk teeth at all! I am quite cross about that.

They told me the same Crunchy - which was a total lie. I asked outright, several times "is there anything we can do to save these teeth?" - and the said No. The problem for them is that repairing milk would cost allot of money to the NHS. In terms of time, staff, resources, equipment etc. After my DD's poorly tooth (and the scuffed ones which could easily have been saved) was extracted and I found out that milk teeth can be treated in the same way. I was really upset and rang up the hospital dentist who carried out the extraction and asked him why they hadn't saved her teeth. He said there are so many children with tooth decay that they just don't have the budget in place to repair them. They only do fillings on disabled children. They are aware that private clinics repair milk teeth, but it would be unethical I suppose for them to tell parents because many wouldn't be able to afford them. Still, it's taking a choice away and saying that milk teeth can't be repaired is a blatant lie.

Milk teeth can be filled. My DD has just has a filling on a milk tooth, though we use a private dentist. It cost £40.

I dont see what is unethical about telling people that a treatment that they have specifically asked for is available privately - better than saying that it cant be done if it can.

Definitely more ethical than lying.

Ds had a back milk tooth filled on the NHS. It's outrageous what some dentists are spouting!

DS2 has decay in 4 teeth but the dentist won't do anything.

It's my fault (combination of bf at night/ being lax with crap/ not insisting on teeth cleaning when he complained - was going through Stuff at the time.

Cunchyfrog - breastfeeding at night doesn't cause tooth decay (although my dentist did try to tell me it did ), so you can stop blaming yourself about that bit

Theres a girl in ds 1s class that has sever decay on her top teeth has been like that for the 3 yrs I've known her

They have a dentist come in to school here (Scotland ) and they sent a note home saying she needs urgent treatment and offering appointments at least 3 times but the mum won't get in touch as she thinks the school is spying on her and is trying to report her to social services (she's also been asked about her childrens constant absences) its a shame fir the child at the age of 7 and her teeth just look awful

Actually breastfeeding can cause tooth decay. If the child is feeding very frequently overnight, for example if you are co-sleeping decay can occur and I have seen it on occasion. However if you make sure you are brushing your child's teeth it shouldn't be a problem( I co-sleep and feed over night but make sure I reduce other risk factors and maintain good brushing) To be honest breastfeeding isn't a big cause of decay but to say that it can't cause it wouldn't be strictly true.

Have you got any evidence to back that up, Oinkypig?

As far as I am aware, a link between nighttime bfeeding and tooth decay has never been established - see this Kellymom link.

Besides which, none of us would have any teeth, evolutionwise, if breastfeeding caused tooth decay.

I'm a dentist and I spend a big part of my day restoring primary teeth on the NHS - at no cost to the parent. It is misleading for your dentist to tell you that they can't be filled on the NHS. Fissure sealants are also available on the NHS.

A dentist told me BF over a long period of time will cause decay and he was seeing more and more of it.

Then your dentist is talking bollocks - Christ knows what they are teaching them in dental school

I've seen evidence that suggests it's not the breast feeding per se but the combination of feeding sugary foods and then breast feeding without adaquete toothbrushing.

A lot of parents don't realise that things like honey, yoghurts, raisins are just as bad for the teeth as sweets.

feenie what makes you so sure?

Feenie: that's not really how evolution works.

Poor dental hygiene - yes. Breastfeeding - no.

Every single research paper I have ever read on the subject, valiumredhead.

Anything on the teeth including milk turns to sugar so if you are BF throughout the night when the child has lots of teeth I think it makes perfect sense that there will be decay.

That link is excellent, however I didn't say breastfeeding was a major cause of decay but that to say it couldn't cause decay would not be strictly true, there are fermentable sugars which can if the environment of the mouth is correct be used by acid producing bacteria. People obviously have different levels of susceptibility to decay which can be influenced by things within their control and outwith it. I don't have any links to studies which show breastfeeding may be a cause of decay. As I have said I have seen on occasion children with decay and the only factor identified along with their parents has been extended, frequent overnight. I do appreciate this is anecdotal but the vast majority of dental research is based on expert opinion or very poorly designed studies. As I have said I co-sleep and feed over night and I'm not worried about my child having decay.

from the kellymom article:

'Much research indicates that it?s the other foods in baby?s diet (rather than breastmilk) that tend to be the main problem when it comes to tooth decay. The 1999 Erickson study (in which healthy teeth were immersed in different solutions) indicated that breastmilk alone was practically identical to water and did not cause tooth decay ? another experiment even indicated that the teeth became stronger when immersed in breastmilk. However, when a small amount of sugar was added to the breastmilk, the mixture was worse than a sugar solution when it came to causing tooth decay. This study emphasizes the importance of tooth brushing and good dental hygiene.'

So breastmilk is only a problem when combined with sugars in the diet, but as I said above, many parents are unaware that some 'healthy' foods are high in sugar.

To be fair she could have other issues which have led to this. My dn had medication as a baby which meant her teeth were black and decayed. If my dsis knew someone thought she was being negligent she would have been