FORREAL..maybe. Teeth, paleo/primal, and others

Poor, poor little blog. You've once again been neglected. Well, let us breathe some new life into you, ok? Even if it's sad life.


SEVERAL months ago, I started a draft talking about Nora's teeth. I never published it and ended up deleting it. I did some thinking on this and maybe it was because I'm embarrassed? Or, feel guilty? Or, was in denial? Whatever it is, I have decided I want to blog about it to get it out and help myself process this.

When Noodle was 9ish months old, her top two front teeth came in. Shortly thereafter I noticed that at the bottom of her tooth, furthest from the gumline, it looked as if there were small chips in her enamel where the dentin was showing though. Of course I freaked out and called my mom, sister, and Wes. I also texted them, a picture, and went to Jane's house a few nights later to try and show her. Everyone thought it was going to be fine. I still felt like a momma failure. Upon research I came to the conclusion that her teeth looked they had enamel hypoplasia, (google it if you want a more in-depth science-y description.) Basically its that the enamel is malformed and/or weak making the teeth more prone to caries and sensitivity. Wes and I kept checking on it and it appeared to be just staying the same.

I started researching ways to heal/reverse tooth decay and remineralize teeth. This lead me to the Weston A. Price foundation. Protocol includes drinking raw milk, bone broths, mag/cal supps, etc. Nora had not even started solids yet so there was no way any of that was going to help. One of Wes' many dentist trips, I brought Nora along for the dentist to peek in and see. He reassured me it just looked like some genetic malformation or some sort of malabsorbtion during pregnancy. Here comes the guilt....

I started looking into it. Now, when I was pregnant I had the most horrendous heartburn. Like, sitting in bed at night wanting to cry because my chest all the way up to my ears felt like fire. It blew. That lead to me eating copious amounts of Tums. (I now know better ways to handle heartburn) All that calcium (coupled with all the freaking wheat and grains I was eating) caused some deficiency in her teeth while they were forming. This is just hypothesis....

Fast forward a few months, Nora's teeth started looking worse. What was just a few chips of enamel gone turned into the entire bottom of edge of the two front teeth having their enamel gone. The backs were even worse looking. We had just moved to Arizona and I didn't have a dentist I felt like I could trust so Wes and I decided to keep the "wait and see" approach to avoid the teeth being extracted. About this same time we decided to go full paleo/primal and to rid diets of all processed foods, grains, bad oils, and conventional/unfermented dairy. Well, the problem was still Nora doesn't eat much besides the boob. She may eat a strawberry, some mushrooms, or blueberries but she still eats very little despite the giant variety I present her with daily.

So on the Primal journey we started. Wes felt better, I felt better. No more aches and pains, no more weird tummy issues, better mental clarity, more energy. I cannot sing the praises of it enough.

Ok, so at 16/17 months Nora's molars started erupting. After they has mostly come in, I was brushing her teeth one day (much to her kicking, screaming, and dismay) and saw a scary black hole in her top left tooth. I went and got a dental pick and discovered it was only a raisin! Under the raisin was A REAL SCARY BLACK HOLE AND THE ENTIRE SURFACE OF THE TOOTH HAD LITTLE/NO ENAMEL. Same story on the other side. These teeth had only been fully erupted for maybe 2 months!

I searched around for a holistic dentist and found one. I wanted to take the least invasive, most natural approach to this. Obviously her teeth were too weak/far gone/I could not in good conscience wait any longer. We found a quack, I mean dentist and Nora and I took off work to go. This lady sucked, (which I'm 100% positive is NOT true for most holistic dentists.) I repeatedly told their office on 4 occasions how old Nora was, what the condition of her teeth were and HOW OLD SHE WAS. We arrived at the office and the "dentist" took us back to the chair. She then tried to reason with Nora asking her to open her mouth etc. Uh, lady, shes 20 months old. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to just help you open her mouth to see in there. After "examining" the top teeth and Nora firmly clamping her jaw shut the "dentist" told me her front two and top two molars were hypoplastic with decay. Thank you, I learned that from google.
She then proceeded to tell me,  "I'm not sure how you're going to fix these teeth without giving her sedation."
To which my reply was, "Uhm, well, I'm not a dentist that is why I came here. You guys don't do sedation?"
She stated "Oh, no. You will have to take her to a pediatric dentist for that."
I said, "Oh. Hm."
I was so dumbstruck that they would even SEE a patient that was out of their scope my mind was reeling. Actually it exploded and I couldn't even think.
"Dentist" then told Nora verbatim "Nora, some day you are going to have to open your mouth for people to look in it. We just want to help you. You have to be a good girl and open your mouth."
Uh...ok stranger.
She then asked if I needed a referral to which I stated, "No."
I was then charged $175. My head once again exploded, I placed my cash on the counter and walked out with my eyes bulging out of my head.

Fast forward a few weeks. We went and saw the pediatric dentist that my nanny family goes to. He rules. He is very respectful, respected my stance on fluoride and night nursing. Nora complied with all his wishes to look inside her mouth and poke around.

Diagnosis and game plan:
Front two teeth are hypoplastic with decay. These two will more than likely need to be extracted. So she will just not have 2 front teeth until her permanent teeth come in.
Top two molars, hypolastic with decay. HAVE to be saved as they are place holders and space savers. Will probably need stainless steel crowns and plubotomy "baby root canals."
Bottom two molars probably need fillings.

My heart sunk. My poor sweet girl. I did my research, I don't love the thought of metal in her mouth for the next 10 years especially coupled with the "baby root canal" and I hate the thought of her having no top two teeth. HATE it. How vain of me though. Those teeth are so sensitive, that may explain why she doesn't eat much.

I feel like I failed her big time. WAY big time. My heart is overwhelmed with guilt and pain for her. She doesn't even know what is going on. October 19th at the latest she will have the procedures done, Mid-August at the earliest.

I am still processing all the guilt, to which Dr. Lee (the awesome pedi-dentist) said, "This isn't a hygiene issue, or an issue of you not caring enough. This is a genetic issue or some unknown factor during pregnancy that caused this. This is Day 1 now and all we can do is take care of what is there and watch the rest of the teeth and catch anything early on."

So as un-natural and scary as all of this is, I am turning off my intense desire to control and trusting in the Lord and in this doctor.

More to come later....