My 2 year old has a tooth cavity- devastated

[user1499786242]

Firstly please no negative comments
I'm really struggling with this and just need advice rather than any horrible words

My little boy who is 2, has a small cavity on his back tooth, when I noticed it I was obviously devastated
Took him to the dentist two weeks ago, had a long chat with the dentist and we discussed his diet and oral hygiene
And the dentist is pretty sure the cause for this is his diet... of fruit and things like raisins!
I never realised how awful fruit and dried fruit are for his little teeth, he doesn't have chocolate or sweets, maybe abit of cake or some of my pudding after our meal at night but he does not get loads of sugary foods
We have an electric toothbrush, I clean his teeth for at least 2 minutes a day, twice a day
He only drinks breastmilk and water

Dentist said his other teeth seem fine and to just reduce the amount of fruit etc
Put a coating on the small cavity and booked a check up for 6 months time...

So we stopped giving fruit all day as snacks and stuck to meal times, reduced any sugar
Introduced more cheese and savoury things

Well cleaning his teeth this morning I notice a cavity ON HIS FRONT TOOTH

I am absolutely devastated, have cried on and off since I've seen it, it's right at the top and almost is a little brown hole
I didn't notice it last night

So my 2 year old beautiful boy has 2 cavities in his mouth and I feel like the worst mother in the world sob

I will obviously ring the dentist first thing Monday morning but does anyone know what will likely happen as it's a front tooth? Will they have to take the tooth out? 😳😭 or can they do fillings on such small children? Heartbroken!
Bad teeth do run in my family but I'm not sure that can justify two cavities by 2 can it? I'm just a shit mum and should have realised raisins and those bloody organix fruit roll things are basically worse than sweets :(

Please be kind I just wondered if anyone else has experienced anything like this?
I don't know how I could have let this happen as we started brushing them when his very first tooth popped up

Thanks x

I don't have any advice but don't beat yourself up about it, it sounds like you've really tried your best to keep his teeth tip top. I really worry about my dd as she pretty much lives on fruit and although I try and brush her teeth twice a day, it's a real struggle

I have no advice but I’ll give you my personal experience.

My mum was pretty ill when she was pregnant with me, as a result I didn’t get quite as much calcium as I should have apparently. The result was I had very weak teeth as a child, despite a decent (I was fussy but I wasn’t allowed lots of sweet treats) diet I still got lots of cavities for this reason. As I got older I had most of my teeth capped to solve the problem. Might be worth asking about. Maybe your day just has weak teeth?

I have four children. No fizzy drinks in the house, limited sweets etc. Breastfed all of them.
Two of them have had cavities- one from very young like your boy and in fact his teeth seemed very soft and wore down a lot before his 5th birthday. The dentist was lovely and said sometimes anitibiotics or illnesses during pregnancy could affect their tooth buds and cause a tendency for cavities and issues.
Only my youngest hasn’t had any fillings by the age of 5... and honestly nothing has changed for him that I didn’t do for the others.

It’s horrible but you know now and yes raisins are cheeky little fuckers. Chocolate buttons are less damaging as they’re not sticky.

There are some people who suggest a link with longer term breastfeeding as well- breast milk is sugary. But all four of mine were all fed long term too and all different. And I believe the benefits outweigh the risks.

You’re a good mum. You wouldn’t care about this if you weren’t. Get advise from the dentist and don’t worry too much. Carry on brushing and caring for your wee boy.

Thankyou for your comments! They have made me feel abit better and I've calmed down abit! I can't stop looking at his tooth! I took a picture and I keep obsessing
It looks awful
What if other mums judge me?
He does have a few white marks on his teeth, the dentist at the time told me it's nothing to worry about and some children just get these marks, but I'm now thinking it must be a sign of weakness as that's where the cavity is! What if it keeps getting worse and all his teeth get rotten??

Just need to pull on my big girl pants and get the issue sorted, I know that I can't clean his teeth more than I do without making his gums sore, we've changed his diet so I guess I can sleep at night knowing I am trying my best??

Hoping the dentist doesn't make me feel like shit, don't want to cry infront of him!

Anyway, thanks for the kind words, I'm too embarrassed to tell anyone other than my partner and he thinks I'm making a fuss over nothing

Thankyou xx

I think it must be more to do with his teeth than his diet, like pp said about weak teeth.

When my ds was smaller he had a lot of intolerances and lived on fruit. Nobody could ever get through as much fruit and fruit juices as him. He's seven now and some of his big teeth are coming through at the front, but he's never had any decay or cavities on any of them.

Maybe you could ask the dentist what they suggest next as the cutting down on fruit isn't working.

Try not to overreact. This really isn't your fault and you've clearly done more than most to protect his teeth. Some teeth just aren't that great.

I strongly feel that this is down to genetics rather than diet/lifestyle. I'm adopted and so is my brother (diff birth parents). We were both adopted as babies and had the sane upbringing regarding sugar and teeth cleaning etc. He has a mouth full of fillings etc, I have one. It's pot luck

Ds has enamel hypoplasia (awful pregnancy and sick a lot as a baby). He had 5 molars pulled a few weeks ago. Can you ask to see your community dentist? I found them much more clued up than his regular dentist. Regular told me he'd missed them brushing, community took one look and said nope it's not his fault in any way they simply came through weak.

I think it’s partially genetics too.

One of mine has a very sweet tooth, has to be beaten into cleaning her teeth. The other (pfb!) has a much better diet and cleans teeth regularly.

Guess which one had the cavity?!

Anyway it was filled once when she was 2-ish, and she developed a fear of the dentist. So I did my research and when the filling fell out I didn’t consent to re-filling. She had the tooth with the cavity until it fell out about 12-ish and it caused no problems at all.

Talk to your dentist but there is research that says symptomless cavities in primary teeth can just be left, rather than risk inducing a fear of dentists in young children.

That's interesting about it not being filled, have been researching like mad and there's such different conflicting advice!
I think if it was just the back one I would leave it but I really don't want his front tooth to become rotten and black!? Because a. I am mortified and b.i would hate for it to hurt him

Makes sense about genetics, me and my sister obviously had the same upbringing, I have a mouth full of fillings and she doesn't

My partner and his sister, same upbringing
She has fillings and my partner has never had one! He's never had any work done at all
I was hoping my little one would take after his dad rather than me but it seems not

I did have to take antibiotics when I was pregnant so could that have made a difference?

Oh and he was diagnosed as being anemic about 6 months ago, because of being so fussy, (literally stopped eating) so me and the consultant made a food plan to increase his iron levels which included raisins, cereals like rice crispies and lots of fruit, he also took a very syrupy iron medicine 3 times a day for 3 months so I'm guessing it's all paid a part in the problem!

And you can't win, took him for his flu spray and the nurse gave him a maoam sweet as a reward, 🙈 I was thinking 'noooo'

Feel so anxious and low about it but will ring the dentist tomorrow and hopefully get an appointment asap!

I really appreciate everyone's comments and it's so reassuring to know I'm not the only one in this situation

Xx

As others said it's not your fault! But best find a good dentist. My previous one told me genetics play no role, it's only brushing, whereas present one told me it's to do with saliva: some people are lucky that their saliva is able to neutralise lots of acid.

It's just my personal take, but would drinking lots of water after eating fruits help?

Good luck!

two cavities at his age is genetics OP, unless you bottle fed him coke every night!

you must not beat yourself up

remember they are baby teeth and will all fall out anyway

Please don't blame yourself, I have twins, exactly the same diet, one has never had a filling (teenagers now) the other needed fillings almost as soon as she had teeth! No idea why, but her adult teeth are much stronger, tho not perfect.

Have you tried switching to vegetables instead of fruit? Much less sugar, still very good for you but don't rot the teeth. I think this is the best way forward and fluoride toothpaste.

Also they're only baby teeth so they will come out eventually and then there will be lovely new teeth (by which age he'll be able to brush them properly on his own, they'll be stronger too)

part of this could be genetic not just environmental. have you been offered floride drops or treatments?

Oh and to reassure you both my older two who had bad baby teeth have fab adult teeth and no fillings (aged 20 and 17 now)

Sleepless night last night worrying about his bloody tooth!
Have rung the dentist and managed to get a cancellation tomorrow morning, feel sick at the thought of going but my partner is coming with us so I have some moral support at least
I want to have a proper chat with the dentist about how to reduce the risk of anymore cavities! Is there a coating he could put on any weak looking teeth?
Will also ask about fluoride drops or something
Although we use the stronger strength toothpaste now so not sure if he can have any extra?
What about multi vitamins?

Re vegetables... he just won't eat them
I try every day to give him some sort of vegetable but he just won't even put them in his mouth
I will keep trying tho!

It's reassuring to hear your stories and it has made me feel less bad and that's it's not all my fault!
Hoping his adult teeth aren't affected, I have crap teeth and it's awful and I wanted better for him!

Thanks again I thought I would get called a shit mother and get some nasty comments or something!
So thanks for being kind xx

How did it go?

My dd1 smashed her two front adult teeth three months after getting them by going over the handlebars of her bike.
Baby teeth bah.
At 17 now, it's not something that ruins either of our lives. Despite it being her adult teeth. (She had fake bits added on and renewed every time they fell off. She'll cap them eventually but we had to get through the braces year's first).

Dd2 has dental hypoplasia (she has cerebral palsy) and had four titanium crowns on her baby teeth as they were essentially just disintegrating. We called them her princess teeth (as they were shiny and silvery). They eventually fell out to let her adult teeth in.

Ds1 has a weirdy triangular adult canine. Like my dad.
And dh had a freaking baby tooth until he was 42.

Honestly, a cavity or two in baby teeth might seem like the end of the world, but it really isn't. It's all largely genetics.