Katie wrote:

 

What's the deal?  Where do I find info to give to this dentist?   I've 
read the info in _Mothering Your Nursing Toddler_.  Is there  a LLL 
Tear Sheet?  Does the AAP have a statement on this issue?  Any other 
info anywhere?

 

I think it's just another situation of using breastfeeding as a scapegoat.
If extended nursing and/or night nursing caused cavities, there would be a
lot more cases of decayed teeth in our ancestors, and any archaeologist will
confirm that tooth decay was rare before refined foods came on the scene.

 

As it says in Mothering Your Nursing Toddler, breast milk alone is not the
culprit - if a baby tooth is put in breast milk, it calcifies and gets
stronger rather than decaying like it did in the formula.  However once that
breast milk is combined with carbohydrates from table foods, it can create
an acid that is pretty destructive to teeth.  The book recommends having the
toddler drink some plain water after eating solids to help rinse the mouth
of any remaining food that could feed the bacteria in the child's mouth.

 

To date LLL has no tear off sheet or pamphlet regarding night nursing and
tooth decay.  Mothering Magazine has published a few articles over the years
but for some reason I couldn't find them on their site.  LLLI's website also
offers some articles:

 

http://www.lalecheleague.org/NB/NBJulAug00p134ext.html 

 

http://www.lalecheleague.org/NB/NBdental.html

 

Some of the children in my LLL Group have brittle and decaying teeth but so
do many of the formula fed kids I see around town.  We had a pediatric
dentist fresh from school open a practice here, with the belief that
nighttime feedings of any kind caused decay.  Then one of his first family
of patients were three breastfed sisters (children of a LLLL) who had the
cleanest teeth he'd ever seen, yet they were crumbling out of their mouths
(the youngest was just getting her first two teeth at that time).  That
certainly set his theory on its ear!  Now he's not so quick to choose any
one culprit, he's so PC.

 

I found out recently some cases are considered enamel hypoplasia, where the
enamel never really formed properly so the tooth isn't as protected as it
should be.  This is usually caused by an illness in mother or baby at a
critical time in the tooth formation.  Dentist's solution is to see these
kids frequently, infuse them with fluoride toothpaste, rinse, and
treatments, and/or put crowns on the teeth that have already decayed beyond
repair (cha-ching)!  

 

I've heard there is a combination homeopathic remedy that helps the body to
naturally calcify the teeth as nature designed but I don't know the
components; one is calc carb but beyond that I can't remember.

 

I personally have found that using the Oral-B Ultra is very helpful in
keeping my kids' teeth clean.  The head is about 1 cm in diameter and I
don't have to do any scrubbing in their little mouths; I just move the
toothbrush across the surfaces of their teeth.  Reach just designed a
flosser on the end of a toothbrush handle, which is perfect for reaching in
little mouths.

 

FWIW,

 

Debbie Gillespie


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