Your grandchildren's teeth

I do think that some people are genetically predisposed to tooth decay, however careful they are about dental hygiene.

Although I didn't have many sugary drinks as a child, I did eat sweets every day, and tooth brushing in our house was very haphazard. Although I did have a lot of fillings as a child, at the age of 64 I still have all but two of my teeth and healthy gums (touch wood).

My mum hasn't been to a dentist since she was 9 and has never been careful about dental hygiene but at the age of nearly 94 still has her own (admittedly pretty ropy) teeth. Her 95 year old brother has all his own teeth.

I'm not sure about all of this. I was terribly upset last year when DGD had to have a filling (and later an extraction) at the age of only 7. All of my DGC eat fresh healthy food. They love vegetables and are not great sweetie eaters. Nor do they drink sugary drinks. They have all cleaned their teeth (or had them cleaned for them) regularly so I was puzzled. My DD (not their mother) is 29. She has never had so much as a filling at the dentist in her whole life. Her teeth are perfect(unlike me or her late father) and although she looks after them, I remember her eating sweeties and drinking sugary drinks as a child. Is it possible that some people have a tendency towards tooth decay ?

It is quite young Harri, but of course there are huge variations. Hopefully your DS has a good dentist who will keep a careful eye on things. Your GD may need some help, but there are so many things which can be done, making sure children's teeth are straight and not overcrowded has developed so much. She may when she is older have to see an orthadontist

GD says the two front ones are loose, she told me a month ago and I thought she was just saying it because we had been talking about the tooth fairy. I wonder if it might be a family thing kitty because my sister and my father grew a lot of adult teeth before losing any and indeed eventually had to have extractions to make room because they were getting crowded.

Has she lost the baby ones Harri? DS2 had a friend who had 6 adult teeth in each jaw, behind the milk teeth, and I think that some of the baby teeth had to be extracted.

DS sent me a photo on fb last night, it was of the inside of GD's mouth distinctly showing two adult teeth behind her baby teeth. Am I getting forgetful or is 5 years and 1 month old quite young to be losing teeth and getting new ones ?

I've been shocked by recent reports about the extent of poor dental health in children. Bags is spot on, vigilance, supervision and nagging in relation to children cleaning their teeth is essential. I followed the Bags approach to age 8, but maintained a campaign of terror about teeth cleaning until the children themselves became obsessed with dental hygiene (about age 14 I think).

I suspect one of the problems is that so many children seem to have access to snacks, rather than 3 meals a day, with say elevenses, and something about 4 pm to get them through till the evening meal. Sugar is added to so many foods, and don't get me started on sugary drinks.

I sympathise with people about the shortage of good NHS dentists. One of my pet moans is the fact that schools no longer have a visiting dentist (it's even more irritating than the absence of nitty nora, the bug explorer)

My mother is about 81 years old and she still had all of her own teeth up until a couple of years ago. She had her one and only extraction after she had visited one of her friends who had grilled some sort of breaded chicken thing for lunch and, according to my mother, it was so hard, when she bit into it, it cracked one of her teeth!

I think genes determine what sort of teeth you will have

I also think that. I had a friend who brushed her teeth maybe a couple of times per week but they were always brilliant white! Mine were brushed twice a day and weren't brilliant white (I was about 18 at the time). I mentioned this to my dentist and asked why her teeth were so white and mine aren't. He said that her teeth will not have as much calcium in them so she will be prone to losing them earlier if she isn't careful. If that is true, surely it has to be genertically determined?

That's true, my teeth are tough as old boots and DBH's crumble alarmingly. DC's have hardly a filling between them, but DGCs are paranoid about cleaning their teeth so I have no fears there!

My mother stopped cleaning my teeth for me when I was five (4 of us, don't blame her!) but on our mirror was a picture of a pair of eyes and underneath was written 'I am watching you!' and I believed her!

You are right baggy apparently children can't properly clean their teeth until they are nine years old.

My son had his first filling when he was thirty six and that was only because a tooth cracked, not sure why that happened. DD1 has had one filling, she is now 41. DD2 had fillings from the age of three, I was always fussy about my children's teeth so was surprised her teeth were decaying. I was very happy that her adult teeth were normal.

When my second GD was cutting her front teeth they looked discoloured as they were just coming through. DD1 was extremely worried and immediately took her to the dentist to see what was wrong, they didn't really know. They suggested it was her diet, she was breastfed and just starting solids. Her teeth were cleaned thoroughly by one of her parents every night and still are. She had to have her three front teeth out when she was around 18 months old. My oldest GD age 9 has her mother's small strong gappy teeth and no decays and is always told what a good girl she is. GD now 6 has similar looking teeth to my family and the dentist regularly coats a substance on her teeth which we think has greatly helped. Her adult teeth are coming through and look good.

I spoke to my eldest sister about GD's teeth and her GS also six has the very same problem and had to have his front teeth extracted. She said it runs in our family.

While diet makes a huge difference on teeth, I think genes determine what sort of teeth you will have.

GS1 & 2 have lovely teeth. GS1 only drinks water and has never liked flavoured drinks. His brotherwould probably like them but doesn't get the chance! GS1 brushes his own teeth now and has a timer so that he does the full 2 minutes.

harri, please tell your DH thank you and a from me. Proper parenting was indeed the idea!

Katek your GC sound like mine. When they moved to Scotland and registered with a new Dentist, she was amazed that none of then had the slightest bit of decay.
My DD makes sure that either she or SiL cleans their teeth for them. The eldest who is nearly eight is allowed to clean her own teeth now, but she is still checked up on from time to time to make sure that she is doing it properly.

None of my dgc drink coke or fruit juices-only milk, water or the occasional flavoured water. They don't actually like fizzy drinks. The littlest one, 18 months, was breast fed and weaned onto water and milk. So far the 8 year olds have not had any dental work done but they do eat raisins etc. In fact for the first two years of their lives they thought raisins were sweeties!!

If you need ammunition to support your way of brushing and inform the parents can I suggest this www.toothfairyblog.org/ten-tips-terrific-toddler-teeth/
I used to rinse, but know now they should just spit!

thatbags just been telling DH what you said about cleaning DC's teeth and he said 'that is proper parenting'

I agree with thatbags re cleaning. I always cleaned my children's teeth, just letting them have a go right at the end. They still have good teeth - I don't think my 33 year old son has had any extractions or fillings.

I try to brush my grandchildren's teeth when they stay over but, despite trying to make it fun, it's an uphill struggle as they are used to doing it themselves when at home. In my grandson's case (2 yrs 6 mths) , this consists of him wetting the brush, putting it in his mouth, sucking the water off it and spitting out water- not ideal.

I think fruit juice should be diluted, especially as it is what they drinks most of the time, but nobody else in the family does this. As a child, I mainly drank water, and a treat would be when we bought a couple of bottles of Corona when the lorry came round. I very rarely buy my grandchildren sweets.

I'm afraid my GC enjoy Ribena - much watered down. I think their parents are good about teeth cleaning though. Both DD and DS didn't have fillings until their 20s - late 20s too I think and I've not been particularly fussy about drinks though I've always nagged about teeth cleaning; it is a boring activity

I also think it is down to poor dental hygiene. Both of my children drank sugary drinks, they loved having saucers of sultanas and, of course, they ate sweets - both have only had a filling each in the last 3 years or so.

Sadly, my youngest GD had to have a filling at quite a young age and my daughter said to the dentist that as she, herself, had no fillings (at that time) it was probably due to Manx water not containing flouride - the dentist replied that it was more likely down to her mother making sure that she (my daughter) brushed her teeth properly and regularly.

DGS1 has had a filling despite DD being a dentist's daughter and almost neurotic about food, meals, regulated sweets, drinks, teeth cleaning etc.

That used to be common round here too Anno but the PCT (or whatever it is called today ) stopped allowing dentists to have 'exempt only' contracts. Now, dentists have to have an NHS contract for adults before they are allowed to treat exempt patients eg children. There are, however, quite a few practices still taking NHS patients

That really does sound rather devious anno.

Thanks for that information annodomini. My daughter and her husband are paying for private treatment. I think she needs to ask about getting their daughter on the books.

My GCs were taken on as NHS dental patients as long as their parents signed up for private treatment I don't know if this is common practice.

I agree - more and better teeth cleaning. Young parents are so busy these days with their jobs etc that it is hard t devote the time and effort to it.