Coffee break

[ailbhe]

Decaf coffee and the last Oreo.

I'm rising bread; I feel badly enough about Emer's teeth that I'm making all the white bread with eggs and calcium-enriched rice milk. I'd feed her chalk if I thought it would help. Eggs and beans and calcium rice milk and brown pasta and brown rice... what else has calcium in it? We're practically letting her eat fluoride toothpaste.

I keep hearing about Xylitol but she's only two. So I'm really not sure. Besides, sweets with Xylitol often have acids and things too.

Comments

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

Our dentist suggested brushing with straight xylitol after normal toothbrushing for Astrid, who also has tooth problems. She and I were also dairy-free due to her sensitivity during her first year or so (she's pretty much outgrown it by now), and I do wonder if there is a correlation there, as her big brother has never had tooth problems.

[ailbhe]

Linnea has never had tooth problems and she was more strictly dairy-free than Emer, as it happens. In fact, Linnea's lack of problems was why the dentists who didn't examine Emer properly (she cries) assumed her teeth would be fine. They're not; no decay, no plaque to speak of, but they are demineralising.

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

It's horrible, isn't it? Astrid had to have one tooth removed after she fell and broke it (which I doubt would have happened if they'd been as strong as normal teeth). I cringe every time she bites down on something hard.

Tooth problems are such a stigma. Obviously if my kid has bad teeth, I feed her candy all day and don't brush.

At least it doesn't seem to be causing her any pain.

I wonder about maternal resource depletion during pregnancy too, as I've heard an awful lot of stories of second (or later) children with bad teeth, while their older siblings are fine.

[ai731.livejournal.com]

I'm the eldest, and the one in the family with terrible teeth. I think it has as much to do with genetics as anything. I got my dad's poor eyesight, and my mum's bad teeth.

[ailbhe]

The dentist thinks the fever-during-pregnancy-or-early-infancy is the most likely cause, possibly coupled with genetics, for Emer. I hope it's the former, because it bodes well for her adult teeth.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

My brother fell and broke his two front teeth off when he was ten. His teeth were fine beforehand. It might have just been one of those things for Astrid.

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

It's a bit of a chicken or the egg issue. She fell and bloodied her lip several times in the few months leading up to the big injury, and it's entirely possible that some minor tooth damage during one of those events was a contributing factor. However, we definitely noticed problems before the injury, and she's had problems (though not as severe) with uninjured teeth as well.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Oh, sure. You know your own kid's teeth. I'm just sayin' that they might have broken even if they'd been healthy.

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

Yep. I know other kids who have broken teeth who overall have healthy teeth. One of my son's friends broke a brand-new adult tooth, and the dentist said that, because it was so new, there was a good chance it would just continue growing. Apparently touching the opposite teeth is their signal to stop growing. Which is totally irrelevant to this thread, but I thought it was really neat.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

That IS a very neat thing!