I agree with Joylyn. Her article on LLLI is a great reference. As Dr. Brian Palmer puts it, 'it is evolutionary suicide for breastmilk to cause tooth decay". Human milk has a decay potential of 0.01%, close to that of plain water. Breastmilk is meant to be part of infant's biological diet.
Dental caries is recognized to be an infectious disease caused by an overgrowth of microorganisms that are part of our normal oral flora. Another important point to consider is saliva has a protective effect by bathing or washing the teeth. Therefore, less saliva production at night, or mouth breathing due to nasal congestion, airway obstructions, enlarged tonsils, polyps, etc., can dry the teeth and makes them more prone to decay. (http://www.llli.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVAprMayJun06p27.html: Early Childhood Caries: New Knowledge Has Implications for Breastfeeding Families. Anne Altshuler, RN, MS, IBCLC).
What seems more important is to learn to recognize symptoms before caries develop. White spots on the surface of the upper front teeth or whitish lines at the base of the teeth along the gum line are indicators of Early Childhood Caries. If all hygiene care has been looked into then I agree with Joylyn that genetics to be a cause.
Take Care
Yasmin
MA,HDSE,LLLL
Mumbai, India
________________________________
From: Joylyn <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Mon, 5 July, 2010 6:17:33
Subject: Re: breastfeeding and cavities
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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