Last week, Rachel was surprised to see that her 24-month-old baby has two cavities when she takes her baby to the dentist. The dentist suggested that the child might have “caught” them from her mom.
The dentist handed Rachel the piece of paper that talked about saliva transfer, it said not to share cups or utensils or food and said, ‘No kissing your kid on the lips.’ I was shocked; I’d been taking a bite of food and then giving her a bite since she started eating. I told the dentist I’d never heard of this and he said these were new findings.”
According to a 2008 study in Pediatric Dentistry, “strong evidence demonstrated that mothers are a primary source of MS colonization of their children; a few investigations showed other potential sources … notably fathers.
“There have been many, many studies,” said Dr. Jane Soxman, a pediatric dentist from Allison Park, Pa. “It’s well-documented. You can’t blame it all on kissing a child on the lips — that’s one of several different factors that would have to be working together. But the main thing to know is that tooth decay is a bacterial infection and you can spread it from one person to another during the window of infectivity, which is during infancy and especially during the time of tooth eruption. That’s when the teeth are most vulnerable. It’s as if you had a bad cold and were kissing your child, you would spread the cold virus.
But the decay won’t just impact baby teeth. If the bacteria are allowed to thrive, Soxman said, they will colonize and stick around for years, attacking the permanent teeth when they come in. Luckily, there are preventative measures that can help kick the bacteria to the curb. A January 2010 study in the Journal of Dental Research found that the children of moms who chewed Xylitol gum
It’s one thing to tell parents who have active decay to be extra cautious, and it’s something to be aware of for the rest of us, but I don’t think I’d be able to completely eliminate those behaviors,” said Marcy Hogan, a 29-year-old stay-at-home mom from San Jose, Calif. “They’re very natural behaviors and actions.
I don’t want to avoid kissing my son and I don’t know how I’d get around blowing on his food. Sometimes it’s too hot and kids are not very patient.” That’s the dental problem for all parent now, if you do not how to do on this issue, asking your dentist for proper advices.
