Breastfeeding and Cavities
By Dr. Linda Niessen -- Baylor College of Dentistry STORY: BREASTFEEDING and CAVITIES SCRIPT #519 SHOOT: 7/17, 8/12/03 AIRDATE: Monday, August 18, 2003 DHC Master #18 Timecode: 14:53
Monday, August 18, 2003
Breast milk is high in sugar, just like infant formula or cow’s milk. A toddler who nurses frequently, often at bedtime and through the night, may develop cavities in baby teeth.
“I just took him to bed with me and nursed him all night,” Lori Drumm said. “I knew on one hand that you aren’t supposed to put a baby in bed with a bottle and that it would affect their teeth.” Drumm noticed that Spencer’s front teeth were soft. He had developed four cavities.
Dr. Robert Morgan, a pediatric dentist, sees early childhood cavities, also called nursing mouth tooth decay, in some children who sleep in a family bed. “Or whether it is mother’s milk, or bottled milk, or juice, or juice out of a cup, when you eat or drink, right before you go to bed, for 20 minutes you make decay,” Morgan said.
Because Spencer is just 20 months old, his dental work takes place in an operating room at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas. Under anesthesia, Spencer has the decay removed and his baby teeth capped. “You just think you are doing a good thing for your child. Don’t take your child to bed with you,” Drumm said.
Spencer recovered quickly and is fine today. He is learning how to brush his teeth. But meanwhile, his mother brushes them for him, taking control until Spencer develops the coordination to do it on his own.
For Baylor College of Dentistry, The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center in Dallas, I'm Dr. Linda Niessen.
Dr. Linda Niessen, clinical professor in the Department of Restorative Sciences and the Office of Communications and Development at Baylor College of Dentistry, hosts Dental Health Check, the only weekly dental feature shot on location in the nation.
