I was going to let this one go, but it's been on my mind since the first posts (a dentist who told the mom of a child with caries to stop nighttime feeds), so here goes. If you want to skip to the truly relevant BF part, go to "F" A. While breastfeeding at night probably causes very few of the cases of nursing bottle caries that occur (look at the name!), any type of feeding that leaves sugars on the teeth overnight is a risk factor. I unfortunately don't have easy access to the article sited about BF and caries, but if it refutes this, I apologize. B. Just as dentists were accused of perhaps "looking at the world through the teeth" (my honest apologies if I am misquoting), a non-BF advocate would probably say the same of our BF perspective if reading some of the posts on our list.(Not that the BF perspective isn't the right one! :) ) C. My dental training in med school was almost nil, so I wouldn't be surprised if BF and BM aren't given much time in a dental school curriculum. That doesn't excuse ignorance, but perhaps the dentist in question just needs some education. D. I was discussing the whole issue with a friend who is a dentist, and her first comment was "that dentist sounds crazy", followed by "I wonder if the patient perhaps misunderstood" which sounded familiar after the recent thread about how patients often leave us with a different message then the one we thought we gave. E. While baby teeth do fall out, caries in them are not benign, and can lead to mouth and jaw infections, mouth pain, poor self esteem, and can even require surgery under general anesthesia. I've done too many pre-op physicals on these kids to take the disease lightly. Granted, these kids had multiple risk factors for bad tooth disease, not just night time bottles or breastfeeding. F. Most practically, as LC's, RN's, MD's and all others I'm leaving out, you can help keep these kids from being told by the dentist that nursing is a problem, by helping teach the parents about good tooth hygiene for their babies. I would guess many of you get calls from moms when the babe's first tooth comes in and the moms get bit the first time. This is a perfect time to spend just a minute going over tooth care. Tooth and gum care should include brushing or wiping the teeth and gums as soon as the teeth begin to emerge, with a soft toothbrush or cloth, with either water or non-fluoride toothpaste (no fluoride until kids can spit most of it out). Even if the child has fallen asleep nursing, a quick wipe with a washcloth will help (as my dentist friend says), before the child is put down, and hopefully will keep the child out of the treatment chair at the dentist. As I mentioned, most MD's have minimal training in dental care, and it's often not mentioned at well child care, (and I won't even go into dental insurance issues, proper age of first dental visit, etc!!) so your instruction to the parents could make a big difference!! Sorry so long! Shauna Farmer, MD, in Rome, GA, where there is only one dentist who sees Medicaid and who is soon retiring, and lots of kids with bad teeth *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html