# 2 Year Old With Severe Tooth Decay



## rachaeltowne

Long story short, while my daughter was laughing I noticed that her upper back molars were black on the inside. I felt alarmed and inspected the rest of her teeth. Behind the top front teeth there are black areas too, as well as the beginning of decay at the gum-line in the front of those teeth.

I took her to a pediatric dentist right away and after a visual inspection (daughter wouldn't allow xrays), I was told she had 6 severe cavities. She will likely need all of them capped!

She was referred to a pediatric dental surgery center and will be put under general anesthesia to get everything fixed at once next week. I'm so scared.

I'm beyond upset about this and very baffled. Her teeth are brushed thoroughly and religiously every single day. She does not have a high sugar diet. In fact, I'm very conscientious about nutrition, vitamins and minerals, buying organic, etc. My two older children have perfect teeth. The only thing I can blame it on is frequent night nursing. There is a possibility of it being a genetic issue. I'm 40 yrs old and have only had 3 cavities in my entire life, and none as a child. My husband on the other hand had to have all of his upper teeth pulled at only 35 yrs old due to out of control decay, and was told that he had a genetic condition that caused this.

Has anybody experienced this? I'm getting her the dental care she needs right now, but have you found anything holistic that has helped prevent future decay? I'm willing to do whatever it takes. We are not rich but I can certainly spend the money on supplements and so forth if there are things out there that actually work.

Thank you.


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## sierramtngirl

Hugs Mamma! We actually have a 21 month old with some beginning decay on her top front teeth







! I totally get what you are saying about a very healthy diet (I'm a nutritionist! NO sugar other than fruits-not even juice!). DD doesn't drink "cow milk" (what she calls it) just mostly water and breast milk.

The pediatric dentist we saw at 18 months was not very sensitive to me and said flat out "it's the night nursing". ??????What????? I told him that I did extensive reading about the topic and that everything I read suggested that night nursing does not cause tooth decay. He said that this claim was absolutely false. So, of course I was heart broken, felt like the worst mommy in the world, etc. He told me that I should have been "wiping her teeth off between every nursing" Huh? She got her first teeth at 4 months old and was still nursing around the clock at that age!! We religiously started brushing at that age onward. I told him that it was not reasonable to ask a working mother to wipe off her kids teeth all night long (as my DD was a huge NN who reverse-cycled for her first year of life).

I was wondering about the genetic thing as well. I grew up in a rural situation with well water and my teeth aren't great. Neither is anyone else's in my family---DH's teeth are "average". FWIW, where we lived when I was pregnant with DD had well water as well (but not after she was born) so I've always wondered if this was part of the reason.

So, so sorry mamma!! Hugs to you and I'll be thinking of your DD as she has her surgery.


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## Viola

There are other things that can contribute to this, including tongue-tie and lack of saliva, diabetes, lack of mineralization, etc. I had a friend who believed her daughter's was caused by candida, although they had a raw food vegan diet for the most part.

I don't know if it's holistic, but xylitol wipes have been shown to reduce the incidence of caries in young children. Best wishes to you!


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## darlinglou

Hi!
Read Rami Nagels book Cure tooth decay and weston a prices book nutrition and physical degeneration, yes you can heal teeth even when they are severly decayed!!!!!


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## Red Pajama

People sometimes like to think that if you do everything "right", good things will happen to you. And if bad things happen, you must have dont something "wrong". Then, just to keep everything interesting, we argue about what is "right", and are filled with self doubt over what we ought to do, and if we could have prevented what ever bad thing happened.

The truth is, plenty of people night nurse without tooth decay as a result. Plenty of people experience sever tooth decay in toddlers. Some people use floride, either in toothpaste, city water, or supplements. Some people don't. Some children have the genetic cards stacked against them in regard to dental health.

The whole thing of doing everything right = good results only works when it does. When it doesn't work, it's hard not to feel either cheated by the universe or like you picked the 'wrong" thing. My advice is to let go of any feelings of "I did X, Y, and Z! This shouldn't have happened!". It did happen.

My own personal experience is that my kids had great dental health. I brushed teeth regularly. No juice. Very limited sweets. Breastfed, long term. But when one twin's 6 year molars started coming in, they were crumbling. Enamel Hypoplasia. We were referred to a great pediatric dentist (something I highly recommend, if you have a child with troublesome teeth). Over the course of many visits, she was able to save, with stainless steel crowns on 3, all of them affected teeth. Great: he still likes the dentist! No hesitation when going. Not so great: it's also on his top front teeth. Those will have to wait till mid teen years to fix. My point is, enamel formation on teeth is tricky business. If it is disrupted in the short window of time when it is forming, it will be weak, to varying degrees. Baby teeth form while still in utero. 6 year molars and front teeth form within the first year of life. Any infection, trauma, stress... you get the idea.

When I questioned the pediadont about my son's teeth, and what may have happened, she said, quite plainly: "You don't get to take this. It isn't something you did, or didn't do."


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## sierramtngirl

Great points red pajamas! And how awesome that the periodontist was so gentle and supportive.


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## Asiago

Did your kids have reflux or were they preterm?
Both effect dental enamel.


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## sierramtngirl

My DD was term (40+3) and zero reflux.


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## Asiago

One more bit of info I found very intriguing, I just read that lip tie can also increase risk for decay in front teeth.
http://thefunnyshapedwoman.blogspot.com/2011/03/introducing-maxillary-labial-frenulum.html


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