I gather from what I have read that bottle mouth occurs when a specific
bacteria, strep mutans, is present (so does all decay).  "Insults" during
pregnancy such as maternal illness, maternal fever etc seem to have some
correlation with bottle mouth(b/c this is when formation of the enamel
for baby teeth occurs); so does the presence of the bacteria in the
mother's mouth.  Bottle mouth does not appear to condemn a child to
poorly developed permanent teeth; however, if too many baby teeth are
lost, that can influence the placement of the permanent teeth.

Those who know far more than I label bottle mouth as "in spite of, not
because of" breastfeeding.

Karen Zeretzke
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
[log in to unmask]