Devastated by 22 month old tooth decay

[Mumanddone]

my toddler went for her first dental check up today. Even before the dentist looked in her mouth she asked me about breastfeeding and told me to limit it. She said DD has decay on top teeth and referred me to the community dental nurse. I’m devastated. My daughter has never had bottles or juice or much sugar (none before 1 and occasionally has had sugar since then). We brush her teeth.

yes, we breastfeed a lot. We bedshare and she’s prone to popping on and off the boob as and when (breastsleeping means I hardly notice when she’s drinking so no idea how many times a night she does). I feel awful that our breastfeeding habits could have caused this. The dentist said only expressed milk from now on in a cup if I want her to drink breastmilk.

I have been putting limits on daytime feeding for the past couple of months and she’s been feeding just in the morning, once in the afternoon and before bed (which is great) but I have always loved feeding her at night and it’s never caused issues.

I am so concerned and I know I will have to start night weaning but I simply can’t handle tears and to be honest, I am so worried that our peaceful quiet nights are over because she’ll be crying for the boob.

I feel like I’ve failed her doing the thing everyone told me to do (breastfeeding). Has anyone experienced this? How should I move forward?

Nope the dentist is talking nonsense, don't stop if you don't want.

It's not the breastfeeding

It's the frequent feeds.

So if your baby has a breastfeed before bed. And that's it til morning that's fine.

But if the baby has the breast in its mouth most of the night, or feeds every 30 minutes throughout the night that is the issue. It the same with formula. One bottle before bed ok. But if waking up frequently and having feeds throughout the night more likely to affect the teeth. Or just has bottle in mouth overnight- not good.

Same with fruits during the day. If has some grapes once a day and it takes a couple of minutes and snack finished. That's fine.
But if walking around with a bowl. And putting a little in the mouth chewing. And spending up to an hour chewing on them. Then has lunch and picks up the bowl again and carries on taking 10 minutes per sliced piece of grape not good.

It the length of time the sugar is in contact with the teeth and frequency of contacts in the day. Not the total amount that is important.

Several PPs have shared links demonstrating that in this instance the dentist is not 100% correct as it's more of a myth that breastfeeding causes tooth decay, much more likely to be genetics plus fruit and dried fruit sugars.

If you want to stop breastfeeding that's up to you.

If you don't want to, that's also fine and unlikely to harm her teeth.

For my DD (no teeth issues) we swapped routine around so it was bedtime breastfeed then teeth brushing, and began cutting down night feeds, then brush teeth in the morning again.

No need to catastrophise.

What is your toothbrushing routine like? In my experience - but I’ll admit I’m not dentist - the majority of damage due to food/drink can be mitigated with good tooth brushing (I literally only drank apple juice as a child 🤦‍♀️ but my mum was very hot on toothbrushing! Never a filling or any dental procedure here. Same with my DCs although I will shamefully admit here - never to the dentist - they probably eat more sugary food and drink more juice than is recommended…) I can see how night feeds or feeding to sleep could therefore be an issue. But stopping feeding altogether? I’d get a second opinion. But if you are very good and meticulous with brushing and have issues despite that then maybe it is just down to weak teeth as a PP suggested and then maybe the breastfeeding has got to give - but that’s just bad luck, not something to feel guilty about!

@Krakinou
These studies are flawed as usually mother who bf for long come from higher sociocultural classes so it is impossible to tell whether it is the breastfeeding or actually the background (and everything that goes with being privileged) that gives more opportunities to child to develop their brains.
The evidence shows it is the latter.

You can read Emily Oster about it. She looked at all the studies and her point it clear. Breastfeeding's benefits are massively overblown.

How good your teeth are must be partly genetic but if your daughter has a predisposition for teeth probs you just have to be especially careful. So perhaps less fruit and knock the night feeds on the head. Her teeth aren't strong enough to be surrounded by sugary liquid all night.
But don't beat yourself up. You were doing your best with the info you had at the time. There will probably be other things that go a bit wrong too, but it's all part of parenthood!

When latched correctly the teeth do not get covered in milk at all. Sadly people take the advice from bottles and apply it to breast, as everyone assumes they are the same because the bottle marketing is so big on the 'just like a nipple' bollocks. There are benefits to breastfeeding beyond infancy and the WHO recommends at least 2 years.

Dental enamel hypoplasia - two of mine did have some of this according to dentist on back teeth and got some fluoride paste applied to help strengthen.

It didn't lead to decay or tooth loss and it doesn't seem to have affected adult teeth.

Dentist suggest viral infections during tooth development to us. However my subsequent health issue suggest I may have lacked vit D though I took pre and post natal vitamins that had vit D in them and they were good birth weights so maybe not.

Enamel Hypoplasia.

Fruit is absolutely fine with meals ( not smoothies)

its night feeds and the milk sitting around in her mouth wether it’s breastfed or a bottle and teat this can absolutely decay teeth.

Everyone has different teeth and how strong/resilient they are which is why some won’t be affected like your daughter but for some people that are just more susceptible to decay this will can be a cause. Even breast milk.

You now know this to be an issue. Take the advice of your dentist who has seen your child not people online who have never had an issue. Limit the fruit to mealtimes would she eat a veggie snack instead? I’m sorry it probably means the end of your night time breast feeding but she can get her nutrients from food now.

Im a healthcare professional that sees far too many young ( 2years plus) children have to have teeth removed under GA and it’s heartbreaking that in many of those cases it can be prevented with better oral hygiene education. Not everyone realises what can/can’t be harmful. This is only going to get worse with such poor access to NHS dentistry

I do also credit extended breastfeeding with making her extremely well adjusted and bright to an extent

Both my dc's were bottle fed from birth because I didn't want to breastfeed. They are both well adjusted, calm, happy children. This is partly because they are growing up in a calm, happy environment and also because it is just their personalities.

They are also both very bright, doing well at school etc. This is 99% because they are naturally just bright and I will give us the 1% for encouraging their learning 😂

You seem to have an overestimated opinion of what breastfeeding a baby actually does. I'm not knocking breastfeeding, it's great for babies and kudos to any mother who does it. But it's not magic.

@Shiningstarr was this down to breastfeeding do you think? Which teeth did they remove and when

It was down to feeding after her teeth had been cleaned. She had 5 teeth removed, it was her front two teeth, both canines and one other (all on the top).

As I say I was devastated and just felt like a total failure as a mum. 😓

How did you cut down night feeds?

Oh im so sorry 😞 I am
sure it must have felt awful. Did she just not have her top teeth? For how long?

She’ll eat pretty much anything so I will definitely limit the fruit to breakfast and dinner. I will take steps to night wean and brush even more carefully. I know I can’t reverse the decay but can I prevent it from getting worse?

Let’s keep this thread on the topic of breastfeeding causing decay etc rather than taking a thing I said and running with it.

I do not think this is caused by breastfeeding, please do not feel guilty. It is more likely to be weak enamel which is genetic and/or can be related to antibiotic use. Dentists seem to jump on breastfeeding as a cause but in reality it is less likely to cause tooth decay than most other things because the position of the milk when it is being swallowed is going straight down the throat, not spending any time in contact with the teeth. Studies don't support it as a cause of decay.

If you do want to stop you can do that gently at this age (I would not do cold turkey personally) but if you want to carry on then I don't see that this is any worse than any other food, and of course you would continue to give her food.

I agree with posters that I need to limit the day night feeding gently. I have never taken antibiotics, it’s not that. I am so upset but I hope we have caught it early and it will not lead to removals of teeth

Your dentist sounds very judgemental about breastfeeding. I breastfed on demand until 24 months (ie all the time 🙄) and my child had (and has) zero tooth decay. The fact that you’re feeding at 22 months is not alone why she has tooth decay. It is what is recommended by the World Health Organisation!

I certainly wouldn’t stop breastfeeding just because a dentist says so who brought it up before even looking at the teeth.

I would look very closely at your toothbrushing processes and the toothpaste you use. Eg we experimented with a hippy toothpaste for a few weeks until I realised DD’s teeth were yellow! You need flouride. We also tried to let DD brush her own teeth until my hygienist told me very firmly I should do it until DD is age 10-11 if I don’t want her to have fillings.

Also look at diet eg sugar, fruit, fruit juice etc and consider how long sugar is sitting on teeth before toothbrushing.

This is what makes me so sad. I did the best by her in my eyes but it’s caused harm. I feel so upset and anxious

Firstly well done with BF so long .It will have helped her immune system considerably .You say she eats a lot of fruit which is good ,but some are high in Sugar too.Maybe wean her off the boob at night .See if plain water may help .Just do in stages no need to leave her crying . Not sure about this dentists thoughts though. Maybe some fruit with a meal not on its own

Also I would look for a new dentist if you can because this one is an idiot.

This is incorrect. If Breastfeeding from the source with a correct latch the milk goes straight down the throat and doesn’t pool round the teeth. This DOES happen with bottles, and cups. It’s far better to breastfeed

Your judgement of breastfeeding a toddler is also ignorant and outdated. If mum is happy to keep breastfeeding there is no issue in doing so. Child is 2 not 12.

OP - dentists are educated on this, breastfeeding from the breast doesn’t cause tooth decay as I’ve said above. Sugar in the diet and/or illness is the more likely cause.

Dentists aren’t educated* that should have said

OP the breastfeeding has not caused harm, my DD was still sucking away on and off for half the night til age two! If breastfeeding causes tooth decay then my DD’s teeth would have been ruined but there was zero decay.

Your dentist is crap. Please don’t let one idiot change how you feel about what has clearly been fabulous parenting.