At the dentist

Gabe had his dental appointment today. Unfortunately, he had to get a treatment done to his teeth because the enamel is just starting to erode.

Lovely.

In our part of Oregon, there isn't any fluoride in the water. So, during the last several years doctors started prescribing fluoride drops to babies aged 6 months and older. Our first pediatrician gave us a multi-vitamin with fluoride, but Gabe's teeth started turning grayish. Fluoride, in large doses, can cause fluorosis. And naturally, there is all this dramatic information online about the dangers of fluoride. So we stopped it, got another vitamin to take and decided we would take him to the dentist at 1 year and ask them about it.

Of course now in retrospect, I wished we'd have just gotten a separate fluoride supplement right away instead of waiting. Oh, well.

The up side is that the staff is really great and Gabe did well. The doctor showed us around the office and gave us information on teeth health, etc. The treatment itself is not invasive; just two coatings of substances that I cannot remember the names of. He sat still for it all, amazingly.

The doctor said it's completely treatable and that a lot of children his age come up against enamel problems and cavities (this didn't make me feel better, though) primarily because of diet. Drinking juices (apple, especially), canned fruit, and shockingly things like granola and honey can cause tooth decay. Even foods and drinks without added sugar can be problematic. So even with fluoride, he might have still had problems, but the likelihood would have decreased, I suppose.

One thing that surprised me was that the dentist said it's okay to brush his teeth with kiddie toothpaste (the ones with fluoride) using a rice grain-sized amount. He said the amount he'd swallow would not hurt him and this could take the place of fluoride drops. He does this for his own daughter, who is not much older than Gabe. Wow. We've been brushing his teeth with a fluoride-free paste from Whole Foods.

So, he has to get these treatments every two months, but I can't remember for how long (my mind has been sifty this morning). For now, all the fluids he'll be getting are water, plain cow's milk and breast milk.

As far as foods, I think I will rinse all canned fruit with water to get rid of that extra syrup, but try to stick with mostly fresh fruit, veggies, Gerber 3 meat meals, breads, cheese and plain whole yogurt.

Here are some photos from today:


With Craig before we left home.


At the dental office.