Cavities are caused by a few things.
1. /Streptococcus mutans/, a bacteria that can be passed from parent
to child.
2. High risk factors in pregnancy, including maternal stress,
illness, antibiotic use, and poor diet.
3. Poor family diet.
4. Poor oral hygiene.
5. Dry mouth.
6. Frequent and prolonged exposure to sugar.
Genetics also play a very important role.
http://www.llli.org/NB/NBSepOct02p164.html
Here is the website of the article I wrote in 2002. The problem is,
most dentists don't really see the difference between formula and
breastmilk. Breastmilk does not cause cavities. Most likely it
prevents cavities, or reduces their severity. I would tell your
daughter that if the pediatric dentist does not understand that
breastfeeding actually helps in this situation then it is probably a
good idea to find another dentist. One that can see the difference
between breastmilk and how it enters the baby, and bottle use. Also,
one really important thing your daughter can do is offer your
granddaughter water to drink at night, before and after nursing. Wet
mouths are good for cavities (as long as the wet is breastmilk and/or
water, not anything else.) Also, some things that seems good for the
body are bad for the teeth, including dried fruit. They really coat the
teeth with concentrated sugars. Fresh fruit, with a fresh veggie to
follow can be as good as brushing in the middle of the day. Just
reading, your granddaughter is 13 months old, so I'm not sure how much
she can munch on celery and the like, but she should stay away from
dried fruit.
Some mothers I know take in my article and others by Palmer, etc. to see
if they can learn. But the most powerful bits of evidence to me is the
anthropology evidence, where there is little caries shown in teeth of
children who lived thousands of years ago. If breastmilk caused caries,
then there would be evidence in the teeth of our ancestors.
Joylyn
On 7/4/10 4:56 PM, Elizabeth Swift wrote:
> My 13 month old granddaughter has what appears to be the beginnings of cavities in two of her upper incisors. She was exclusively breastfeed for nearly 8 months and since getting solid foods has had a pretty healthy diet. She was receiving sweetened baby style yogurt once a day until this problem appeared. Other than that she rarely (like on her birthday) had anything with refined sugar other than once a day cheerios. Her diet has mostly been fruits, vegetables, cheese, and meats. She will be seeing the pediatric dentist this week and my daughter is concerned that they will insist she be night weaned (she currently still nurses at least 2 - 3x per night.
>
> I've e-mailed my LLL APL, have looked at what LLLI has on the subject, gone to Dr. Brian Palmer's website. Everything I'm reading says that breastmilk is not cariogenic, but my daughter says that what she's seeing looks like the pictures of beginning nursing bottle mouth. Does anyone know what the official position of the dental society is on this issue? Do you know of more recent studies than the late 90's early 2000?
>
> I'm not convinced that what she's seeing isn't a defect in the enamel of the tooth, but we'll know more after her dentist's visit on this week.
>
> So does anyone have any input on cavities in breastfed babies? My own daughter, who had really poor teeth by most standards never had a cavity before she was 4 or 5, but she did have a dysplasia of the enamel in one of her top incisors that showed up as soon as the tooth had fully erupted.
>
> Is there any sure connection between low vitamin D status and cavities? The doctor didn't have my gd on vitamin D, but had her mom taking extra vitamin D instead, only she was not always faithful to do so. My granddaughter was born in the spring after my daughter had spent the entire winter in an office job and so was never in the sun. In addition, she was not much of a milk drinker, so most of her vitamin D intake in the pregnancy was from her prenatal vitamins.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
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