I've had some shocking news from the dentist. How could this have happened??

[mummyloveslucy]

Hi, my 8 year old daughter has a mineral dificiency in her adult teeth. The dentist said this will make her more likely to experience problems with her teeth and to need fillings.
He said it's caused be either problems in later pregnancy, traumatic birth or severe illness with the baby. None of these things happened with us. My daughter does have severe learning difficulties which have no known cause. Could this be related?
I feel really sad, as I've taken such good care of her teeth, so she would never have to go through the trauma of having a filling. I know she wouldn't be able to cope with it. She has an extreamly low pain threshold and would never sit still to let him do it.
Her teeth are clean and free of any caverties at the moment. I brush them twice a day with an electric tooth brush, then use Listerine kids mouth wash.
She doesn't eat that many sweets, and only drinks sugar free squash, or milk. She'll have fresh juce only with a meal.
Is there anything else we can do to protect her teeth better?

Oh dear. Something similar is happening in our house so I know exactly how you are feeling. Its awful. You feel so bad for something that is out of your control.

You say in your post 'more likely to experience...' this doesnt mean it will actually happen though, it might not, especially if you are doing all the right things ? Forewarned is forearmed IMO

Anything else you can do ? try not to eat in between meals so avoid snacking and keep the sugar intake at meal times.

Don't feel bad, it doesn't sound like something you could have prevented. Is it possible to give her some vitamins and minerals that promote strong bones? Vitamin d, calcium and magnesium are the ones I know of... it may help, certainly wouldn't do any harm.

Thank you, it does make you feel really bad. I'm now thinking of what I might've done wrong during pregnancy or missed when she was a baby.
I hope you're right and she won't need them, and if she does I'm hoping they'll put her to sleep for it.
She does tend to snack a bit. She loves her food! Although it's always healthy food, fruit does contain sugar.

Thanks botterfingers, I will buy some.

my son has this (hyper-mineralisation I think its called) and has had a couple of fillings - handled so well by the dentist they really weren't traumatic. he now has a prescription toothpaste with a very high flouride dose, and has to leave it on without rinsing for 1/2 hour after brushing. he was only given it when he turned 9 and I think there was some discussion about whether he was old enough for it - might be worth asking though. I couldn't explain why either, though I had a severe bout of d&v and was hospitalised for dehydration in later pregnancy, which dentist said might possibly have been at a critical point for the teeth formation.

I don't think it will be anything you did, pet. I've heard of this before and it can be linked to something or other during birth or pregnancy but not that the mother did, more ike an illness, maybe a mild illness or something, which kind of interrupts that part of foetal development.

Sorry I'm not more use, it's been posted about on here before when someone's child had brown bits on their teeth. Very interesting phenomenon, and definitely not your fault x

I was told same though I didn't recall any such events. She had her teeth sealed at 4 and has since had 2 fillings which is apparently v good going in 5 yrs. a friend's child however had 5 teeth removed, same problem, but was told it's all fine, that the second lot of teeth will come through ok. Sounds as though you are doing everything right.

Hypomineralisation is often just one of those things and can rarely be linked to an illness/birth event. It's certainly not anything you've done wrong.
Prevention is key in these situations as just because she has hypo mineralisation doesn't mean she will necessarily need fillings etc if they're well looked after it just means they're more susceptible to decay.
Your dentist should be putting sealants on all permanent molars as they erupt. This is a protective coating which if well placed is permanent and is a really easy procedure. They also need to coat your dd teeth with fluoride varnish every 3 months. This will take about 30seconds and tastes pleasant. It washes off over the day but gives the teeth a good boost first, I suppose a bit like an intensive conditioner would to your hair.
Vitamin and mineral supplements won't help as the teeth have already formed.
You need to avoid squash at all costs and stick with water and milk only as its not sugar free but no added sugar which still has natural fruit sugars and so will still cause dental decay. Definitely don't let her have it between meals, during night or within an hour of bedtime.
High fluoride prescription toothpaste is available from your dentist for over 10s so when she reaches that age ask for it and in the meantime use adult toothpaste and check it has 1500ppm fluoride (most do). Fluoride mouthwash is a good idea too and if u want to save the pennies your dentist can give u that on free prescription!
Hope that helps and try not to be too worried

I had a tooth come through without enamel. I was told it may well have been caused when I had pneumonia as a toddler.

However both my db and dsis are missing two adult teeth, (baby teeth never fell out and x-rays showed that there are no adult teeth underneath). As is my df, so that is genetic.

Thanks everyone. It's really tricky when it comes to drinking squash. She suffers from constipation and soiling, and needs to drink plenty, but doesn't. It's a nightmare getting her to drink. We are lucky if we get 2 cups down her a day, on a very good day. She won't drink water. She will have a tiny sip here and there, but that's it. We've tried fancy bottles only for water etc, but it hasn't worked.
I wonder if milk would stay fresh all day in school? It would at home as it's usually quite cold in the kitchen.
I didn't realise that no added sugar still had natural sugar. I suppose it does make sence when you think of it.

I like the idea of getting her teeth coated. That would help.

We also need her to stop sucking her thumb, but I guess that's another thread. She says she needs to suck her thumb to get to sleep. She does it when she's relaxing too. Because of her learning difficulties, she does just look and sound like a huge toddler. Her manerisms and everything, and the thumb sucking kind of goes with it. It does seem mean to paint her thumbs with nasty tasting varnish, but I suppose it'll help in the long run.

Did your dentist prescribe fluoride supplement for her?

Our dentist (private, very child friendly - he can use local anaesthesia without any pain at all, but unfortunately he is very very expensive, but if you are interested pm me and I will give you his details) recommends the following:

• never fruit juice on its own, always together with other food and ideally complete the meal with a little normal cheese (eg not cheese strings, soft cheese)
• after eating fruit or sweets rinse mouth very thoroughly with water or with Colgate tooth (or mouth?) guard (green stuff, sold by dentists but you can also find it online) or if that is not possible eat a small piece of cheese
• don't have too many meals/snacks per day as each time it is another attack on the teeth, so definitely no grazing not even with healthy stuff
• never ever brush teeth within 15 minutes after having eaten something as you brush the fluoride layer away which gets softened when eating some food
• use toothpaste with proper level of fluoride (dentist can tell which the proper level is depending on the individual)

Since we stick to this my dds teeth are much much better.

Thanks for that advice. I'll make nots of all this. Very interesting about the cheese. (She loves cheese, so won't have a problem with this) Also not brushing for 15 mins after eating. It's all things you'd never know.

I might use that mouth gard too. I'm like a child when it come to sweets. and I've had problems with my teeth.

This is the stuff

Thank you.

Ds1 is the same but just on his back molars, he is almost 10. We were prescribed by our dentist the same stuff dikkertjedap recommends, but when it ran out we just bought more as they sell it in Boots.

Once the molars were fully through he had them coated with a plastic coating thing (I had mine done as an adult as I have soft enamel)

I don't know if it makes a difference that we are not with an NHS dentist, but pay privately through Denplan, children included.