Baby Bottle Tooth Decay :(

[briarrose]

I believe my son has baby bottle tooth decay and I am devastated. He has spots on his two front teeth that ihad ben watching, but because he is breastfed, I didnt take things seriously enough and didnt push seeing the dentist. Our dental hygenist wouldnt give me an appointment for him until now, when he is 2. Thank God we have appointments next week. I am going to call ahead tomorrow and discuss the situation with the receptionist.

DS is 27 months, and high-needs. He is so PERSISTANT. Night weaning him has been a nightmare. He nurses to sleep, nap, when he takes it, and nighttime. He also nurses minimum 2 times in the early morning hours. I have been trying to night wean for months, then, in September, my mom passed away, and I basically said screw it, and we lost most of our night weaning progress. Now I am back at it, but it is so hard. I am alone with him at night, and damn it, he is seriously so fucking persistant. Like you would not believe.

He has a small brown spot on each of his front teeth, right at the gap. I am so disappointed that I let this happen. Does anyone have any experience with this and can talk to me about what they will do for it?

[koritto]

No experience personally but go to a pediatric dentist. They will see children as soon as they start getting teeth or at 1 year (which is now the recommended guidelines).

[vvvvvfee]

+1 go to a pediatric dentist

apart from that, are you brushing 2x daily and using fluoride toothpaste? the new recommendation for toddlers is to use a rice-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste- not baby or training toothpaste. do you have fluoridated water (if you have city water rather than well water, it will be fluoridated)? if not, you might consider giving LO a fluoride supplement.

breastmilk itself does not cause cavities. if you brush LO's teeth well after he is done eating for the day, but then nurse overnight, there shouldn't be any food particles in there to cause cavities. also, when BFing, milk goes all the way into the back of the throat-- it does not pool around the teeth like in the classic "baby bottle tooth decay" situation.

some antibiotics can cause brown or yellow staining on the teeth. has LO been on antibiotics recently?

if the spots are small they may just monitor them. if not, they would be filled just like an adult cavity- quick googling suggests this can in most cases be done in the dental office with the use of laughing gas.

don't panic! give us an update if you think of it.

[emmyg65]

PP have good advice. I just want to wish you luck and ask that you please be kind to yourself! You spotted an issue and you're getting it taken care of.