Tooth decay

[people]

I am still in a state of shock after last night's visit to the dentist.

The dentist told me that DS2's (8yo) oral hygiene is OK, but that he has too much juice and sweets as he needs 4 fillings!

The dentist's advice is that he can have juice and sweets at mealtimes, but not in between and TBH that's what I've always done.

We have no fizzy drinks or squash in the house, the only fruit juice he has is a glass of orange at breakfast and a carton of apple with his packed lunch. The rest of the time he has water. I never buy sweets, but he does have grandparents and brings things home from school and parties, which means he probably has sweets 2-3 times a week. If he does have a snack it will be toast or fruit, which the dentist said is OK, as long as not dried fruit.

So, what else am I doing wrong? He does love vinegar and probably has excessive amounts, but only once or twice a week and he doesn't like milk/cheese/yogurt so probably doesn't have enough dairy.

Does he brush his teeth straight after breakfast? Fruit juice softens the enamel which can then be weakened if brushed straight away.

Also did the dentist say whether the fillings are in primary or permanent teeth?

He brushes his teeth before breakfast, when he gets up and then as he goes to bed. The fillings are in his baby teeth.

Not a dentist but similar happened to me with ds around 7, so I can imagine how awful you feel .
Ds has sn so we needed to see the sn dentist who advised me taking back teeth cleaning (may not be needed for you - ds got worse at this with age not better - cleaned one patch mercilessly and nothing else!), rinsing before cleaning, but then leaving the flouride toothpaste in the mouth unrinsed at night. Mornings we do as late after breakfast as possible ( tricky one). We were advised to use an electric toothbrush to improve cleaning effiency. There is also a flouride paint that can be used on vunerable teeth by the dentist as a last resort but we were told it was 'too late' for ds ( I think there are also risks to consider). I have come to the conclusion that ds has weak teeth! He has lost one of his adult teeth to breakage although admittedly it may have been the overcrownding that caused this problem!

I would advise introducing a fluoride rinse (alcohol free e.g the green Fluoriguard) at a different time to brushing (e.g. after school) so he's getting an extra dose of fluoride on his teeth and make sure when he brushes he spits the toothpaste out but doesn't rinse it away.

Don't be too upset, the primary teeth have much thinner enamel than permanent teeth. At most he will have those teeth for 4 more years before they exfoliate, the most important thing is to protect the permanent teeth. I would suggest you ask the dentist whether they can fissure seal his 6s (first adult molars)

Thanks Kiss. Is the vinegar and the milk thing relevant? When he has fish and chips he pours vinegar onto a separate plate to dip in like ketchup

vinegar could possible cause acid erosion but not decay - sugars cause decay. Also it's not so much the quantity of what is eaten but the frequency. Say for example your DS gets a bag of haribo as a treat. If he eats 10 in one go his mouth will experience one acid attack and 20-30mins later will recover. If he eats 1 every 20 mins for a few hours he will eat the same number in total but will have several acid attacks which his mouth will take hours to recover from. A bigger quantity of sweets once a week eaten all in one go cause far less harm than a smaller quantity eaten more often.

As for milk, milk and water are both considered safe to drink in between meals. As long as he's happy with water it's not essential to drink milk (his adult teeth are already fulling formed and waiting under the gums to erupt) Cheese is very useful in helping to remineralise after an acid attack, so it would be useful if he can try to eat small quantities of cheese. Yoghurts are full of sugar so it's really not a good idea for him to have them.