A couple of days ago my daughter broke my heart. Actually she broke her front tooth, which almost broke my heart.
I might be prone to exaggeration… What do you think?
Seriously, I vomited for hours during labor and REFUSED all pain meds because I didn’t want her exposed to anything that might harm her, but the moment she chips a tooth I’m all for knocking her out and performing an unnecessary cosmetic procedure.
Fortunately, a good friend of mine is a dentist. After examining her he talked me out of doing anything drastic, so for now the only cosmetic to-do on Katie’s schedule is getting into my makeup.
Here’s the thing: The dentist told me that her enamel seemed weak. How did that happen?
Let me take you back a little. When I was pregnant with Katie I ate SO WELL. Seriously, I craved Skittles for an entire month but I refused to give in because I didn’t want to eat nasty food dye. And not only did I keep (most) of the unhealthy junk out of my body, I put a lot of great (and expensive!!!) stuff into it.
All that to say, I am a little compulsive about nutrition. I like answers, too. Answers to questions like, why are my little girl’s teeth weak? And what can I do about it? I ordered a book today for the new dental health section of my library. If I learn anything helpful I’ll be sure to post it here. For now, I’m curious: Has anyone else had this kind of experience? Any words of wisdom for me? I feel sooooo guilty and I don’t even know what I did . . . yet.
mlm
Have you made any discoveries about your daughters weak teeth yet? The only things that come to mind for me are dietary calcium intake (perhaps other minerals as well), and fluorinated tap water (or lack thereof). We don’t drink tap water and are worried about so many factors on that front! (too much/too little flourine, trace pharmaceuticals, etc).
Heather
Yes, we did eventually figure it out. Katie’s upper lip was connected too tightly to her gum area so that when she nursed milk did not clear properly from her mouth. Milk pooled in that area and caused the decay. 🙁
tt
i hav read your related post on this topuc. my daughter who is 3 having cavity on number 5 both sides. i stopped the cavity for almost i months from progressing further. however past few days i am seeing black spot appeR on it. i checked her upper lip but it didnt look tightly tied. we eat a very traditional diet, follow most of wapf principles, dont know what is causing these cavities.
Lynn
I don’t know the answer but I am in the WAP community and so many of us have tooth problems. I know greens such as spinach have lots of calcium and there aren’t a lot of greens recommended in WAP
Julie Figueroa
I realize this is years late and that the issues discussed above must’ve been resolved long ago, but I just found this site, so all I can do is share my knowledge and hope that someone who needs it finds it in the future.
The best books (available @ Amazon.com) on how to remineralize teeth/reverse cavities are the first and second editions of “Cure Tooth Decay” by Ramiel Nagel and Timothy Gallagher, DDS., available on Amazon. (If you buy used, make sure the condition is good or better.)
You can also buy a reasonably priced ($55/40) course (DVD/digital video download) called, “Alternatives to Dentists” @ TheGrowNetwork.com.