tooth decay at 16 months

[corazonconrazon]

He started teething at 3 months, by six months he had 6 teeth, now there are 15, and another about to cut through.
I took him to the doctors and to the dentist, who's advice was to stop breast feeding at night and use fluoride tooth paste
I decreased the amount of breast milk but some evenings it is all he wants and i need to sleep and keep my baby trauma fee. Not sure about fluoride him being so young.
Any ideas?

My neice had this, my sister was told that it was because dneice ate lots and lots of fruit. don't forget the best time to brush teeth is an hour after last eating.

what sort of things does he eat? if he has them cut down on fizzy pop, squash (even sugar free stuff), fruit juice, smoothies, ice lollies, ice cream, fruit, sweets, chocolate, cakes, biscuits etc.

I'd go with flouride.I don't think it is made by the devil though I didn't google that so I can't be sure...

But I wouldn't cut down bf.

Feed as you wish and brush teeth with flouride.

we have always used fluoride toothpaste for both lo's from when they first got teeth (dd at 7 months and ds at 5 1/2 months). Do you have issues about using fluoride toothpaste?

Take a good look at his diet. "sugar" comes in many forms all harmful to the teth but in differing levls. We all know about the obvious sugars it sweet foods, but there are others that we need to think about. Fruits contain sugars and some acids too, biooth of which harm teeth. Milk and other dairy products contain lactose, again a sugar. also a lot of processed/ready madefoods contain hidden sugars (especially tomato sauce type foods eg tinned pasta, baked beands etc). Look at labelling carefully. The higher up in the list of ingredients sugar is listed, the more there is. Just because you perceive a food to be "savoury" doesn't mean it doesn't contain sugar.

In terms of the breastfeeding. Well, at night the flow of saliva is reduced. The saliva helps to neutralize any acid produced by oral bacteris feeding of sugars in the diet. So at night the acid attack would be longer. ALthough sugars in breast milk are one of the "safest" a small amount of damage will enevitably occur. Strictly speaking (from a dental point of view) the best thing is brushing teeth then nothing but water until the morning. Breast feeding is better than bottle (here I'm not entering into the BF/bottle debate btw purely the process of getting the milk (in whatever form) into the child from a dental perspective ), because of the fact it doesn't interface/pool around the surface of the teeth in the same wat as with a bottle.

Fluoride most ceratinly has benefits dentally in the right doses, obviously has other issues health wise etc (I am a bit on the fence on this subject these days I'm afraid).

One last point. After all of the above, sometimes teeth are weak due to genetic issues, medical/medicne issues and other factors totally out of our control. If this is the case the other issues can't just be ignored, infact if the teeth are weak the oral hygiene and diet are all the more important, but what I am saying is sometimes it isn't your "fault" just the "way it is" iyswim. HTH

Thank you every one... he doesn't eat any sugar added food, fruit in moderation and we ( specially my parter) look very carefully into what we give him, ingredients and all, he doesn't like fruit juices, but gets the occasional smoothy.
We are all vegan , eat organic and take care he gets all the vitamins and calcium needed. My partner is against fluoride toothpaste so i am trying to negotiate going down the middle path. regarding the food, i do eat sugar, not extraordinary amounts.
Only other thing i can think is i used to use chamomile teething powder which is quite yellow and some times stained his pijamas...i stopped a while ago and swapped for homeopathic remedies, but they do have sucrose, so i now have the liquid form to dilute. I now brush his teeth before his last feed and a little bit after ( if he lets me). He still has a beautiful smile.

so do you brush his teeth with a powder containing sucrose?? I might be reading it right, but, if you are this might be the problem.

oh, meant reading it wrong, sorry late and very tired

hi corazonconrazon my ds is 17 months and has this too.his teeth kind of break off ...although it is only his front four at the top.
i am exactly the same as you..no sugar,still bfeeding. i have been told that it could be to do with having a virus whilst i was pregnant at the time the enamel on his teeth was forming. i have a friend who has been to an anthroposophical (steiner) dentist who painted something on. i really know how you feel...i am not stopping feeding him either...don't panic. it is his milk teeth....they will not be there forewver.i know its hard...my dentist was hugely unhelpful and unsupportive and has not offered me any treatment/help apart from telling me his teeth will go black in a year

comoveneer what can we do at this point ?
because his teeth are sensitive he won't let me brush them properly any advice ?
sorry to hijack thread

ds does eat alot of fruit ..

there must be something the dentists can do ?

i would definitely cut out the smoothies and the fruit. for a snack give cherry tomatoes, celery, cucumber, carrot sticks etc instead and for dessert give yoghurt.

btw what is a steiner dentist?

steiner dentist is one that specialises in treating following anthropsophy (steiner philosophy) the one they went to was in harley street i think

alot of flavoured yoghurt has lots of sugar in

sorry meant to say plain yoghurt.

No i don't brush his teeth with a powder containing sucrose.
Mi sister had a similar issue, her teeth turned black, and this was because of sugar ( my dad confessed adding sugar to her bottle when my mom was on holyday), When she was old enough she had fillings on her milk teeth. Now she has white stains on her teeth. I was researching on fluoride and apparently high fluoride can cause that. That;s why i am weary.
mamazee... are you sure he doesnt let you brush his teeth because they are sensitive? did he used to let you brush them?
I had to force him at first and now he is quite cooperative.

no never let me corazon ds flinches when i go near his front four teeth. i am more concerned about sweeteners in toothpaste than fluoride tbh but it doesn't feel great giving him floride. we used weleda tooth gel for a while but am panicing now
what are you planning to do ?
i am convinced it is not breastfeeding btw.

I am using welleda tooth gel too and i am thinking of really incoutaging him to spit and then introduce a fluoride tooth paste once a day.
I know it is horrible to hear him scream and wriggle but if you are consistent hopefully after a week it should get easyer... get someone else to help you on the case if his strenghth overtakes and explain plenty the need for it. also let him play with the toothbrush.
I am trying not to stress too much about it, he was breast feeding too much at night so when i am really certain he does not need it ( if he's fed an hour ago) i will just put up with his cry... unless it turns into a neverending nightmare, he does usually settle after a bit. I am there with him and when i give in i feel worse.
I am waiting to hear of a wonder miracle solution, might research into steiner dentist...

thanks corazon
i did this with my DS to stop him feeding all night and it really worked well. very kind and especially for co sleeping and carrying on bfeeding during the day .
link
the steiner dentist painted some stuff on apparently.
don't get stressed
i have lots of friends who are still breastfeeding and co sleeping (so feeding lying down at night) and none of them have the same problem. i think it is genetic too
i get upset about it when i go to the dentist and if i am tired but TBH even if i had known that this would happen i am not sure i would have changed anything. co sleeping and breastfeeding have been such a joy for both of us
which teeth are affected in your ds ?

the four top ones and four bottom ones