If long-term breastfeeding was truly a dental problem, then a lot of babies/children/adults would be walking around toothless. One thing that may explain why the dentist sees so many long-time nursers with problems may have more to do with seeing a skewed population. I would guess that the kids most likely to see a pediatric dentist at a young age would be ones with problems already--and I suspect they would be memorable ones! Seems like some kids/families are predisposed to having problems, perhaps because of faulty enamel or whatever. For these kids, then anything they have the first year or more would cause a problem, not just breastmilk. And the problem would be more likely to show up in the back of the mouth (molars) rather than the front as in bottle babies. Perhaps if these bf babies with significant problems had been bottlefed, the problems would be even more severe!

Many dentists recommend wiping the gums and teeth after every breastfeeding--yeah, right! Breastfeeding was such an easy way to parent my kids (especially my daugher) to sleep, and there is NO way I would risk waking her up to wipe her teeth. I am sure I'm not alone on that one! So there ought to be a very large percentage of breastfeeding babies with rotten teeth, but I don't think the numbers bear that out. (At 12 and 8, after 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 years of nursing, no cavities!)

I cannot believe that anything about breastfeeding can be bad. Perhaps it is more a problem in applying standards designed for something else that colors how we look at breastfeeding. Breastfeeding HAS to be the gold standard!

On a related topic, the Council on Dental Therapeutics recently revised their recommendations for fluoride supplementation for infants and children, as follows:

Babies--even those exclusively breastfed--should NOT receive fluoride supplementation in the first 6 months of life (mixing formula with fluoridated tap water is okay).

After 6 months, fluoride supplements are recommended for children living in low-fluoride areas. Babies who are breastfed exclusively past 6 months of age also should be giveing supplemental fluoride. The dosage of supplement has been decreased over the first 6 years of life:

Age (years)             Concentration of fluoride ion in drinking water (ppm)
                Less than 0.3   0.3 to 0.6      Greater than 0.6
6mon to 3       0.25mg          0               0
3-6             0.50mg          0.25            0
6-16            1 mg            0.50mg          0

The American Academy of Pediatrics concurs with these recommendations.
(taken from AAP News, 95-2 11(2):18)

****
For what it's worth!

Melissa Vickers, IBCLC
[log in to unmask]