Those of you who have been following this blog for a while know that a few years back, we received a startling shock when Saoirse was diagnosed with 12 cavities. We began addressing potential food sensitivities in her diet, and sought a dentist who was willing to work with us on a more holistic playing field.
As you can imagine, for poor Saoirse, trips to the dentist haven’t exactly been about finger puppets and giggles.
We scheduled our fourth filling for this week, and the dentist reported that this one was so shallow, no further drilling and filling would be necessary. He told Saoirse her diet changes were working, and that we seem to have stopped the problem. Thus, even though you see her puffy cheeked here, she’s a pretty happy girl.
And, naturally, we made up for it with a little family side adventure…making it all in all a pretty good day.
That is wonderful news! Can you please share more about what changes you made in your diet which helped your daughter?
Sure – we started by removing all grains from the family diet. We were originally a “whole grain” family, but learned that was a problem for all of us. We also increased the amount of bone broth in the family menus, got strict about taking butter oil and fish oil, and addressed a selenium deficiency we all seemed to have (we’re pretty hard-core locavores, and there is no selenium in our soils). Dessert is a once-a-week event, and it has to adhere to the no-grain rule. We also limit dairy to raw only (although I know she occasionally gets pasteurized stuff when she’s out and about), with the exception of low-temp pasteurized butter.
To be honest, I’m not sure which of those changes, or some combination thereof, were the deciding factor. But our dentist has found no evidence of any of the dental caries growing, and no evidence of any further decay, and cavities detected on earlier xrays do not seem apparent on current xrays (could have been the first xrays were flawed???).
This dental stuff is a tricky row to how. Lots of debate and controversy. All I know is that things seem to be working for the time being, and we can’t let up!
Not being nearly knowledgeable enough to comment on Shannon’s dietary comments above, I would try to respond to some of the dental questions put forth on Shannon’s facebook page and a hint of something stated above.
First, regarding Fluoride and it’s being harmful to long bones etc., there was one, non-repeatable study done some years ago that showed that FL intake by older (60-80 years old) people correlated to increased bone fractures. Other epidemiologic studies of larger populations have been unable to duplicate the results. So it’s essentially, you pays your penny and you takes your choice as to what you believe regarding the effect of fluorodated water on our geriatric population. The question concerning FL implied that there was a problem with bone strength in children receiving it in appropriate dosages. I don’t think there is anything in the literature that ever found any detriment to children receiving proper FL supplements. If a child receives the proper amount, it has been shown that the enamel of the child’s teeth are less susceptible (harder) to the acids that cause decay than a child’s tooth that was not exposed to FL during the tooth’s formative time (before eruption). Before anyone places a child on a FL supplements, one should have their well/spring water tested for FL content. There are many areas where the FL content of such water is at such a level that FL supplements to reach an optimum level is not necessary. if you are using bottled water, because you probably are being shielded from it’s source, I would encourage you to have it tested also. The only known harmful effects of ingested FL is when a child’s forming teeth are exposed to a higher level of FL than that which is deemed optimal. The result of this long term “overmedication” is fluorosis. This causes the teeth in question to exhibit a mottling effect, showing white or brown “staining” areas….a definite aesthetic problem. They don’t get cavities, but they are not very aesthetic. This mottling and staining are very evident in populations that live in areas of higher concentrations of FL in their naturally occurring water supply. Other than the described fluorosis, the established scientific community has been able to find no deleterious effects of FL when used in proper amounts since it was begun to be studied on a large scale in the 1940’s. It should also be noted that ingested FL is most effective on forming teeth eg from birth through ones teen years.
Regarding diet, one should be very care of what one puts into or allows to be put into a child’s mouth…..for many reasons….but if one’s concern is decay and cavities, there a few things to consider that may make a world of difference. First one should be aware that not all “healthy” foods are are necessarily good for decay prevention. Second that natural isn’t necessarily better because it is wholesome and healthy. Eg Honey will cause decay as rapidly as high fructose corn syrup. Raisins are poor snacks because they are high in sugar and stick to the teeth. Fruit juices and milk should not be given in bottles when the child is apt to go to sleep and let the juice (sweet and acidic) or milk (sweet) pool on the teeth. The smooth surfaces of the teeth can be kept free of decay in a vast majority of the individuals for a lifetime if proper cleaning and dietary habits are established at an early age. Be very careful what your child snacks on. Fresh fruit and fresh vegetables are much better for them than any refined carbohydrates…and better for their teeth.
Flossing works very well for cleaning the interproximal smooth surfaces of the teeth. But remember, your child may not have the eye/hand coordination to do this properly by themselves until they are maybe 10 or 11 yo. and boys usually take longer than girls….so make the commitment to help them/do it for them for an extended period of time and make it a ritual….we found brushing and flossing became a bedtime ritual that our kids would ask for if we were tired and/or forgot. Brush after meals; but brush and floss together at least once a day religiously and it will help. Use toothpaste with FL in it only after you are comfortable that your child will not swallow the toothpaste. Use the most basic tooth paste that you can find that the child likes the taste/feel of etc…..the more superfluous ingredients, the more potential of problems to the soft tissue (gum) area of the mouth. Use the softest toothbrush of appropriate size that you can find and be gentle….you don’t want to traumatize the soft (gum) tissue in the mouth and always remember that whatever your getting off (plaque) could be wiped off with a piece of cotton, so you don’t need to be over vigorous. Also, remember that the non-smooth surfaces of the teeth are more susceptible to decay in certain people than others. These are the surfaces, in a vast majority of people, where genetics plays the biggest part. So if you’re doing everything you can think of and your child is still getting decay, do three things. 1) Be honest with yourself about your habits and what you are and aren’t doing 2) Discuss the problem with your dentist and ask for suggestions. He may even want you to make a diary of everything you child eats for a week or so and your home care habits to evaluate with you and 3) Leave your guilt at the door. Your child may just be more susceptible than most and it may, in some instances, be extremely difficult for a child to remain cavity free. Is some of these instances sealants and/or fluoride varnishes may be something to be considered. Just make sure sealants etc are just not being done as a matter of routine. Each child should be evaluated on an individual basis before this treatment and it’s expense is incurred.
Lastly, once decay is established through the enamel and in the dentin of a tooth, the best home care and diet in the world will not cause that decay to heal itself and disappear. Once it is established in the dentin, the decay needs to be removed and the tooth restored in order to stop the disease process from continuing to grow. And, by definition, for something to be diagnosed as decay or as a cavity or as caries, it has to be established in dentin. (The only exception to this in children is that the vigorous use of high concentrate fluoride varnish in third world countries has shown some benefit in slowing the growth of decay dramatically.)
All of the above is pretty commonsensical and pretty easy to provide for your child. And the sooner you get into the habit of providing it for them, the easier it will be on both of you…..prevention here is much easier than the cure. Trips to the dentist for a child for definitive treatment is stressful on the child, the parent and the dentist….and much easier on all if the need for restorative work is kept to an absolute minimum. And I know the mention of FL above will probably cause many of you never to get to this part of the discussion, but please don’t dismiss it as a very useful tool in preventing decay unless you have hard evidence of the harm that it produces as shown in good repeatable studies. You may want to review the very long term studies of fluorodated water done in Newburgh vs Kingston, NY and the communities in Colorado where the naturally occurring concentrations are very high and fluorosis is referred to as “Colorado Brown Stain”.
Congratulations to you, and Saoirse both, on a job well done!! So glad you were able to find a dentist willing to work with you!!
Sheesh. Whenever I put up a post mentioning teeth, my inbox floods, and the facebook comments pour in with requests from folks wanting more information.
First, I want to thank Herb Emmons, a real-live dentist, for weighing in on the issue. It takes guts to comment on a website read by a mix of crunchies and various other flavors of radical independents and mention fluoride in a positive light (Herb, FYI, there’s probably a group of us who would throw our hands in the air and scream that fluoride is just part of a giant government conspiracy for mass mind control….I’m only half-joking on that, btw).
I think what Herb says is really worth considering. I’ve been all over the place on the fluoride issue – for it, against it, etc. As some of you know from prior posts, I ultimately made our own toothpaste, and it does not contain fluoride. The kids have a choice between that and a tube that sits on the counter that does contain it. They go back and forth. I’m not saying that’s the right way to go. I’m just saying that, as a mom, I’ve thrown up my hands on the issue and since I can’t make up my mind, I do both. I have chosen not to use fluoride supplementation with the kids, and I exclusively use my own homemade toothpaste (I’ve had only two cavities in my adult life, both following pregnancy).
To speak to the nutritional questions that Herb feel comfortable addresing, here’s the basic philosophy that I’ve followed:
Many of you are already aware of the research of Dr. Weston Price, who did his research as the industrial revolution was sweeping through the world. Price began noticing that cultures living on pre-industrial diets had less tooth decay than those who were on the industrial diet. Much of his work has been carried forward by the Weston Price Foundation, which can be found online.
My philosophy on caring for my family’s teeth stems from this. I believe that tooth decay may be one part genetic, but I believe that the diet is the first level of proper tooth care. Price, and many since him, argued that certain foods cause nutrients to leech out of the bones, and the teeth are the first bones to be sacrificed. Thus, if there is a tooth decay issue, we need to consider nutrition.
You can see from past posts that our family nutrition was always pretty excellent, by nearly all standards (except, of course, for vegans…they’d probably frown on us). But when Saoirse turned up with cavities in the same year that I was sick and Bob developed type I diabetes, we began to wonder if there was a common theme and followed the medical philosphy of via negativa, removing potential irritants until the problem subsided. We removed a lot of foods. Today our family diet is meats, broth, vegetables, very limited fruit (no fruit juices, except for a little cider now and then), no cow dairy for Bob and myself (butter is the exception…how much do I have to endure?), and only raw dairy for the girls.
Once we removed grains and adopted a basic paleo diet (see the link to that story below), we received no notice of further decay in Saoirse’s teeth. It has now been a couple years.
Now, a few things I will admit for the sake of honesty:
1. I tell her to brush after every meal. Really, I do. But I don’t chase her to the bathroom and enforce. I’m sure there are many days when she only brushes at bedtime. She does seem to floss every night, however. Ula is even worse. She has no decay whatsoever. Heck, that kid has been known to inflict serious damage with her chompers.
Fluoride in the toothpaste is optional in our house (as you see above).
I’ve made grave errors in the past about re-mineralizing teeth. I read Ramiel Nagel’s book, Curing Tooth Decay, and decided that any cavity could re-mineralize. That was probably not a very accurate interpretation of the book, and it was a very wrong assumption on my part. I nearly caused Saoirse to have a root canal. Herb’s advice above has been confirmed in my experience: if the cavity has gone through the enamel and has entered into the dentin, then it needs to get filled. And if you go too long, you could have decay go right to the root, and that’s far worse than the 15 min it takes to drill and fill. I’ve gone through several dentists on my journey, and I’ve made them give me tours of Saoirse’s oral cavity. I’ve learned that teeth that have started to soften (the early stages of cavities) can remineralize. I’ve learned that if a cavity is just on the surface of a child’s tooth, it can stop (or at least, it has in our experience). I’ve learned to question dentists thoroughly about the possibility of a baby tooth falling out before the cavity is actually in need of filling.
I’ve also learned to question xrays. They can be misleading. I don’t believe in doing xrays very often. But when a dentist leaves a note with his receptionist to tell you your healthy kid has 12 cavities and to start scheduling follow-ups…you start asking questions. It pays off.
For those of you who want to follow some of the prior threads in this ongoing dental drama in our lives, here are the links (see? I’ve finally started moving over some archives!):
Grassfed, Paleo and Weston Price
http://www.shannonhayes.org/2011/11/
Toothpaste Day:
http://www.shannonhayes.org/2011/11/
Toothpaste, Part II:
http://www.shannonhayes.org/toothpaste-part-2/
We had a similar occurance in our family. When our 3 1/2 year old daughter went to the dentist on her first visit–she had 4 really bad cavities—making it worse was that the dentist was her grandfather—we were horrified/embarrassed and guilt ridden!!! We were an all natural family, no fluoride, no candy, no fruit juices, though she did snack on raisins. (We are rural–so have non-flouridated water) She continued to have problems after removing raisins from her diet and we had constant battles about her brushing habits. Her dental health is an ongoing issue, but got better as she was older and brushed better. our younger daughter had no cavities—and still does not at age 30. BUT—my grandson–son of the daughter with cavities—-had the same issues–without eating raisins. He had the exact scenario–at 3–had 5 cavities and after improved brushing, a continued all natural diet–no juice or candy, got a few more. So I am convinced there is a genetic component. Everyone else in the family has had no dental problems. The reversal in dental health in my daughter and grandson coincided with their being older and better able to brush, but their susceptibility to cavities is still strong. They both have to brush longer, have no let ups in flossing, where the rest of us are more lax, with no problems.
As I tried to convey, diet is extremely important. One can have the best home care in the world and eat a candy bar a day and they’ll start getting cavities. Refined carbohydrates and sweets are the killer and they are found in some things that are marketed as very “healthy” foods. Beware. And beware also, when it comes to decay, natural isn’t always a guarantee of good dental health. One last comment, Shan, and I’m not trying to be petty, but tooth structure is really quite different from bone. And yes, I knew I was taking my life in my hands by bringing up fluoride….please don’t give out my home address. : )
Sorry I missed you!!! Glad you’re well!!!!!!
It was a fast visit…our time is so restricted so long as the grass grows!