I just spoke with a friend who received a nasty little letter from her
pediatric dentist. At her 4 year old's last dental checkup, she asked
the hygienist if her 9 month old son needed fluoride supplements since
he was exclusively breastfed (meaning not drinking water plain or mixed
with formula). The letter she got received was very condescending,
preachy in attitude, saying things like her baby was in great danger of
anemia and that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends weaning
babies at the age of 9-12 months to prevent nursing-related dental
caries. (Maybe the Amer. Acad. of Ped. DENTISTS recommends this, but the
AAP does not. Although her dentist told her that all the pediatricians
he has spoken with DO recommend weaning from the breast at age 9-12
months. He obviously hasn't spoken to MY pediatrician.)

She and I both know this is a bunch of hogwash. We would like to bombard
this dentist with a lot of research study citations that document that
most nursing-related dental caries is caused by congenitally weak teeth
or presence of high acid producing bacteria in the mouth or any other
cause. That most babies don't need to be weaned from nighttime nursings,
unless there is already a problem with dental caries, in which case it
might need to be considered, depending on severity of the problem. That
the great majority of breastfed babies can continue nighttime nursings
with no problems.

I would greatly appreciate any references to breastfeeding and dental
caries that we could send this dentist. I hate to think he's out there
encouraging mothers to totally wean their babies at 9-12 months, when
there's no real reason for them to do so.

Feel free to send me private email if you don't want to clutter up the
list. I will be more than happy to post a compilation of responses I
receive if there is enough general interest.

Thanks!
Amy
--
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*  Amy Shelton, mom to Abby (6/93) and Christopher (5/96)
*
*  LLL Leader, ALLE for LLL of AL/MS/LA                             *
*  LLL of Huntsville: http://iquest.com/~ashelton/homepage.html     *
*  A Mother's Love (sales/rental of breast pumps and accessories):  *
*     http://iquest.com/~ashelton                                   *
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