How are your breastfed child's teeth ?

[koolkat]

DS is 20 months old and I brush his teeth 2x a day. He was excl. breastfed to 6 months and now bf 4 - 5 times a day.

According to my dentist, I should cut down on my DS's breastfeeds as breastmilk is bad for teeth

She did not look at DS's teeth, I was the one having a check-up, I just asked here whether what I was doing with DS's teeth was the right thing.

I didn't want to quote the research at her which says quite the opposite: bm does not cause caveties if you have good oral hygiene and in fact bf gives a child an excellent jaw line and perfect bite, etc.

DH's has 3 close relatives who are dentists, all have PhD's, and every single one of them says that bf is excellent for teeth (but they are based abroad not in the UK).

So, here goes my question:

Do you have a toddler/older child who was exclusively breastfed for at least 6 months, and then breastfed to at least 2 years old, who has lots of caveties ?

Have you been told these caveties are due to extended breastfeeding ?

Hi! I have 2 children,1st one is now 6 and has terrible dental decay on the upper 4 front teeth and i breastfed her till she was 3.The second now 18mths still being breastfed but i'm religious about dental hygiene and brush twice a day without fail as don't want a repeat.Children can be very cruel in the playground!

arin - thanks for your post.

do you think your first child suffers from caveties because she didn't have the dental hygiene which you are now ensuring with your 2nd child ?

ds1 bf til 18weeks, teeth in excellent health. ds2 bf til 1yr (5.5mo exclusively) and has "thin enamel" from ?beaker use, altho stick with v v diluted juice and did the same with ds1, and he has used a cup since 2y. I know I was less likely to clean his teeth after a final bf B4 bed cos he was usually asleep so I'm more inclined to believe it was the bf.I've cleaned dd teeth v carefully as a result of this, but too young to tell if its made any difference. I also havent given her anything but bm, milk or water either.

DD won't let me brush her 6 teeth. She is 13 mths and still being Bfed. My brother didn't brush his teeth until he was 40 (an odd fish) and has NO fillings. His teeth are far from white though.

I didn't mention breastfeeding to the dentist when we saw her yesterday, but she said both ds and I have great teeth.

Dp on the other hand needed some work done. Do you think I should start feeding him too?

Franny - well done. Good news !

Yes, perhaps your DP could benefit from some bm Don't tell anyone though, they might decide to make a TV programme about your bf habits !!

sharp.

LOL, misdee, mine too!

LOL misdee

I breastfed dd1(now nearly 7) until 3.5, in bed, no teeth cleaning afterwards. She does have one cavity, but it's in a molar right at the back and due to her extremely creviced teeth, not breastfeeding.
Dd2 (nearly 5) - also breastfed on demand and to sleep until 15 months (self-weaned) - healthy teeth, no cavities
Ds (2.5) - still breastfed in bed, healthy teeth.

I thought the sugar in breastmilk wasn't actually an agressive one anyway.

I think some kids just have teeth that are more prone to cavities than others.
My teeth are horrible. Always have been. Both sets. And I was breastfed till I was 2.5
My younger brothers were both breastfed until at least then (the younger one till he was even older) and they have perfect teeth.

My grandson, now 3, came to live with us aged 18months. He was breastfed until 2 year old. He has small brown areas of decay on his front teeth. The dentist suggested it was due to medicine given when he was small. He has never been given any medicine except for a little bit of calpol when he had his vaccinations and he had no teeth then.

I think it is because he fell asleep breastfeeding with milk against his teeth.

My own kids were mostly bottlefed. They gave up bottles well before they were 1 and started using trainer cups from weaning age. Neither has had any decay nor a filling. They are aged 19 and 23.
However, my two did have braces ... but so did I !

Breastfed my ds till 11 month feeding night and day and no teeth problems at all not even staining they are lovely and white, but like others I think it depends on the individuals teeth.

dd 6yrs and ds 1yr teeth are fine

dd was exclusicely bf for 6 mo. At 9mo 2 front teeth were brown!! Dentist thought it was a congenital weakness of those teeth. Didn't ask about bf though and I didn't volunteer about nightly bf....She is now 3 and the 2 teeth still sem to grow slower than her other teeth.

Glad you said that mixed, was starting think it was only our DGS with the brown line at the gum on the front teeth. I noticed his uncle (who is only 5) has decayed front teeth too and he was breastfed.

All of mine were breastfed till one year, including at night. ds1 and ds2 had perfect teeth, ds2 especially his baby teeth looked like second teeth, really strong. Am still bf ds3 15 months so still an ongoing project.