I was just recently reading some info on this. Unfortunately it seems the official stand hasn't changed over the years regarding ad libitum breast-feeding - http://www.aapd.org/media/Policies_Guidelines/P_ECCClassifications.pdf

I have referred mothers to these sites in the past

http://www.kiddsteeth.com/dental_topics.html#Breastfeeding_Help

http://www.brianpalmerdds.com/caries.htm


and recently read this article - http://mothering.com/print/2525  which was posted on the facebook wall of Best for Babes Foundation a few days ago ... (love those women!)


this is a topic that is very important to me as my youngest 3 children suffered from ECC - as their teeth came in they seemed to just flake away.. lower teeth were fine... all 4 were exclusively breastfed for 6 months.  All four had a tight labial frenulum.. all four had/have wide spaces between their upper front teeth. Our eldest daughter had no decay at all. 

I was told by each dentist we saw that breastfeeding was the cause. Fortunately, I had a lot of support from LLL and chose to ignore this and came to the conclusion early on that breastmilk was probably protective. Their adult teeth are so so... my husband has very poor enamel on his teeth as did his mother... so I am thinking genetics probably plays a role as perhaps did my nutritional status due to Hyperemesis Gravidarum.

I also believe that we are going to see more problems as we reap the rewards of one or more generations receiving no breastmilk... what is the full consequence of ingesting a monodiet which is poorly absorbed by an infant on their future progeny?  It will be interesting to start asking the right questions of all dental patients with poor enameling or susceptibility to dental disease... not only "were you breastfed and for how long?" but "Were your parents breastfed and for how long?" You know that whole "sins of the father" thing lasting seven generations... perhaps it might be a factor..

very good news is that our grandson has very good dental health.. granddaughter is but 6 mo. and no teeth yet.. hoping she is also free of dental caries.. but if she has a problem - we know where to go for help!

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