Mom's Dental Health and Baby's Dental Health

Dental disease, especially cavities, is contagious!  The truth is a vast majority of infants "get" their dental disease from mom.  Sadly, in an attempt to improve dental health for infants and toddlers, recent literature has been admonishing mothers to avoid:

1)      Slobbery face to face nuzzling and kissing of their babies.

2)      Sharing spoons and cups with infants while helping them learn to eat.

3)      Cleaning baby's oral items like pacifiers and teething rings by licking them off yourself.

To me that is a bit like telling moms not to be moms.  Don't do those cuddly face to face things that moms do so well?  Children get their oral bacterial balance from somewhere, so if it is not mom, who will it be?  Spin the roulette wheel and hope?  No.  The focus is to create good oral health for mom.  Then she can pass her healthy balance of bacteria to her child!  Evidence shows that mom’s with a healthy balance of bacteria in their mouths have babies who "get" disease causing bacteria much later as toddlers. Evidence is also clear; toddlers who establish a cavity causing bacteria in their mouths later have fewer cavities for a lifetime.  The next few blogs will explore:

1)  Good oral health helps a healthy pregnancy.

2)  Poor oral health is associated with pre-term delivery and low birth weights.

3)  Dental care during pregnancy is safe.

4)  Improving oral health is in your hands, it is simple, and it is NOT expensive.

5)  Xylitol, toothpaste, mouth rinses and other over-the-counter products can improve your oral health if used correctly.

So until the next week, remember:

Don't floss all your teeth; just the ones you want to keep.

Scott Thompson, DDS
Pediatric Dentistry

Will My Child Suffer Cavities Like I Have?

The standard (and trite) answer is, of course, it depends on how you care for them.  This leads most people to think of how often they brush, what toothpaste they use, do they use a mouth rinse and perhaps whether they are an excessive candy eater.  Few people think more broadly of what they eat or feed their kids, especially beverages.  We speak extensively in our office about beverages, both for adults and especially for children.

Let me cite one piece of literature (among many showing this problem).  Dr. Philip Marsh was interested in what happens to the oral biofilm of bacteria developing for children sipping juice or other sweet beverages.  Children today are commonly weaned from breast milk or formula to "healthy" juices, typically diluted a bit.  This then evolves into juice or other sweet beverages for the toddler in a handy and available sippy/tippy cup.

Using known data on saliva flow and chemistry, food flow, and the various micro environments in and around teeth, he designed a research study to monitor tooth biofilm.  Dr. Marsh then introduced juice periodically to mimic a child sipping some juice from a sippy cup or bottle and introduced plaque bacteria (similar to how children get these bacteria in slobbery kisses and feedings with parents).  With sampling over time he measured the bacterial balance in the biofilm developing on tooth surfaces.

Tooth biofilm in a healthy mouth typically contains about 1-2 % of the cavity causing bacteria.  While mimicking a child's juice sipping pattern Dr Marsh measured the shift in cavity causing bacteria from 1-2 % to over 50%.  At that level, those bacteria control the biofilm, supporting the acid loving bacteria and destroying the "healthy" bacteria in the biofilm.  Most distressing is that once this biofilm balance has established on the child's developing teeth, about age 2 ½ to 3 years old, it is extremely difficult to change.  It will likely be a high cavity inducing biofilm the rest of the child's life.

Ouch! … $ $ $ $ too!

Please don’t introduce juice and other sweet beverages to your child until they are at least 4 years old.  Even then, limit it to meals.

Dr. Scott Thompson - Pediatric Dentistry

Babies Don't Come with Cavities.

We don't inherit “soft teeth” from our parents and babies don’t come with cavities.

Cavities are caused by a bacterial disease called “caries.”  We catch this disease from our close family and friends.  Like any other contagious disease, how we take care of ourselves determines how our body will handle the disease.  How the family takes care of oral health will affect the cavity rate of the infant and toddler.  Correct family oral care will limit the contagion of the disease.  Correct oral care for the infant and toddler will limit the survival of the bacteria that cause cavities.  Diet and beverage patterns for infants and toddlers will either limit or support the cavity causing bacteria.  The disease, “caries,” establishes its lifetime pattern while the baby teeth are emerging from age 6 months to 30 months old.

Establishing a dental home with a dental office that offers well baby exams will give you the information you need to create a lifetime of dental health for your baby.  Other advantages of establishing an early dental home with your family dentist or pediatric dentist are:

1)      Money savings.  Children who visit the dentist before their fast birthday have an average 40 % lower dental cost during their first 5 years.  These savings will continue through life.

2)      Enamel defects, if addressed early, can be remedied with simple techniques to prevent tooth deterioration.

3)      Early dental cavities can be healed rather than filled if detected early enough and addressed at home with proper information and prevention.  Infants don't come with cavities.  Creating a no cavity environment for your baby can lead to a no cavity environment for a lifetime.

The first tooth deserves a dental home.

Next Blog: 1% or 50%?