I did a radio interview for NMAA (Tasmania) during WBW on babies'
mouths and teeth. It was the only topic the presentor would agree
to go to air on - I guess she thought it was contraversial, but I
got a chance to talk about the benefits to the mouth of breastfeeding and
the damage caused by bottlefeeding.

I have posted on this topic before - anyone interested can search the
archives.

Active caries in the mother's mouth has been associated with
earlier increased colonisation of the baby's mouth with Strep Mutans.
Eradication of active decay in the mouths of pregnant women has been shown
to decrease the incidence of decay in their children (Scandanavian study -
sorry I don't have the reference to hand). Breastmilk has been shown to
contain antibodies to Strep Mutans and supposedly gives protection as long
as the tooth enamel is not defective.

Studies of skulls from pre-historic breastfeeding cultures provide
evidence that breastfeeding is not a primary cause of tooth decay.  My
guess would be that these cultures also chewed food for their children,
and probably kissed them too. Perhaps the answer is that these are OK
practices as long as the mouth is bathed in breastmilk at regular
intervals.  The mother/baby relationship is so close that I think the
exchange of bacteria is inevitable and not a problem as long as
breastfeeding continues.  After all whole system is designed on the basis
of bacterial exposure - so that the mother picks up the baby's
bacteria in order to produce specific protective factors in her milk.  I
look forward to hearing the results of the Dr Zimmer's study.

Ros Escott BAppSc IBCLC
Tasmania, Australia
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