OK, so I thought about saying this here before. I only really put it off cos when I first came to JM I wanted to have a place where I could JUST talk about ttc. But as I have got to know you all and feel we're on a closer footing of friendship I want to tell you about this other thing that has been very hard on me over the last year and a half.
My daughter, Dakota has very severe cavities. People and dentists tend to know it as 'bottle mouth' but my daughter was fully breastfed and never had a bottle.
At about 12-13mths old she had some brown on her front teeth. I asked family and friends and everyone said not to worry about it. When she was 19mths I decided to take her to the dentist. I didn't before cos I didn't know you really could take them when they're very very young? Anyhoo, it was just after Easter and the dentist was a horrible woman. She made no effort to talk to or comfort D on her first visit to the dentist and held her down screaming whilst she looked in her mouth. She snapped 'have you given her chocolate?' Well duh...show me a parent who hasn't? And she really berated me for 'causing' my daughters decay. She did nothing but told me to come back in 6mths. I was devastated as you can imagine! but within TWO WEEKS of that appointment my D's front teeth HALVED...just seemed to melt away. I found another dentist (a paediatric one) who was much better and nice although she blamed my breastfeeding at night. I tried to get my daughter to stop nightnursing but she wouldn't and I would have to back off (I tried rocking, singing, cuddling everything but she'd stay up ALL night if she didn't get the breast).
I researched a tonne more and found out all these things to do and try and I also saw another 4 dentists to try to find one that would DO something. Unfortunetly I found out that although in the U,S she would have been given caps or a filler here in UK they will only extract. After speaking to an American dentist (and child-dental forum) I decided to not have them extracted as it can effect the second teeth coming through and so far they have never hurt her.
We brush her teeth three times a day, use expensive special toothpast and calcium-replacing creams and limit her sugar in her diet where possible. However two more teeth decayed (on the top) and two small holes have appeared on two of the bottom teeth.
That first year was EXTREMLY stressful and upsetting. I would think about it constantly and feel guilty for wanting another baby when my first is having issues.
I found a great dentist, a private one, who was supportive of my breastfeeding and agreed we shouldn't extract unless they hurt her.
She stopped day nursing shortly after age 2 and night nursing just before age 3 but her top teeth are black/brown stumps.
Most people and dentists blame sugar but I just cannot believe it...not when you see what every other child eats and drinks all day without problems. I see parents giving their 3yr olds coke when mine is only allowed milk and water.
I believe she has no enamel protection due to being born premature. Her cousin, a 5th child, had the same issue and had 7 teeth removed at age 4 (so it could be partly genetic too). His 4 older siblings were all brought up the same, breastfed and same diet and didn't have this aggressive teeth issue. He, her cousin, was also premature.
But all I get from people when they see her teeth are 'Oh, too much sugar?' which hurts me so much....making it sound like I feed my daughter 10 times the sugar that any other parent does!
Today I had her dental appointment with the 2nd one I saw (I get free treatment from her - she puts a fluriode paste on every two months) and she just told me there are early signs of decay on the furthest back two teeth now! She questioned me on what my daughter eats and drinks. When I said milk she said 'remember that has sugar in it too' and the same with fruit! I mean, COME ON, what am I supposed to feed my daughter? It was like cos she no longer has breastfeeding to blame she is looking for another 'reason' (or fault with me as a parent) yet whatever is happening is just not normal.
So anyhoo, that is something else I have had to deal with along with not being able to get pregnant! Maybe its added to preventing me? I don't know. But it caused me to feel very down today. I was beginning to think that maybe I would have them taken out sometime next year but now, if she loses another two she will only have her two canine teeth on the top
It kills me that if I lived in America she wouldn't have been left for them to go like this. And I am scared it might happen again with another baby...
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Confession!
I hate admitting this but Austin had a very similar thing... actually I KNOW it was caused by sugar but it was my dad's fault! 
He used to let Austin drink tea at night. I mean Austin had a glass of tea sitting beside his bed when he spent the night with my dad & when we woke up he just got a drink all night long. We had constant fights about that. Anyway, Austin had the teeth extracted... 19 at one time & at the age of 6 or 7. I'm here to tell you that depending on how bad they are here in the US they don't just cap them. In Austin's case they pulled them. And yes it does affect the adult teeth... as the orthodontist put it, there's a traffic jam... areas where only 1 tooth will really fit but 3 are growing in. We need to get braces & that's what the orthodontist recommends in our case but I'm not sure if that's going to happen... we'll see.
Never really noticed anything out of the ordinary with his eating! 
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