Dentist!!

[claudiarivas]

Hello to all

So the little one has teeth already!!! and they tell me that is good for him to have his first dental appointment.... for any regular kid it would not be a big deal, but when you have HFI is another story...

Sooo , I was wondering what is the procedure, what is ok and what is not...how should I explain to the dentist?

What do you guys do??

Thankful for your help as always
Claudia Rivas

[ukbill]

Well the good news is so long as he is not getting any Dextrose or Glucose his teeth should never be any sort of a problem!

If he is fed Glucose or Dextrose sweets in particular, his teeth will dissolve very rapidly .. Some HFI'ers have reported having no teeth left at all because they all rotted away.

Some said they knew when to stop eating Glucose at the point where their teeth went sensitive, others due to their (admitted) addiction said they could not stop eating the stuff and hence had horrible teeth if any.

The first person ever to be identified with HFI was a French woman who was discovered just after the last world war when a medic, from one of the armed services, discovered she had perfect teeth!

Which was totally unknown to medical science since sugar had been introduced to the Human diet a couple of 100 years previously.

He was so interested in why she had perfect teeth he investigated and discovered she could eat no fruit or Vegetables, further tests gave the first official diagnosis of HFI (although it was called Primary Fructose Intolerance then)

She was a particularly healthy individual who lived to be 84 years old I remember reading

So your Little man should have no problems or worries about a visit to the dentist!

See HFI has lots of good news

I remember at school all my class mates literally wetting themselves from worry about the dentist visiting the school.. they all had to have fillings every time (this was before Fluoride tooth paste).

Me not a single filling the rest of may family had loads.. my poor brother in particular had very many fillings because he had soft teeth (and ate sugar).

All little man is likely to need is an inspection.

At worst a descale when he is older.

Rest easy

[Tammy]

Hi Claudia.
The biggest thing to watch for at the dentist office is products containing sorbitol and flavors.
Just tell the dentist what your son has and the things that he is "allergic" to. They will have to check all rinses, flourides, and even things like topical ointments. Most things there will contain some sort of flavoring with sorbitol. Even most toothpastes do. Regina's dentist is always amazed at the things she finds when made to look.

Regina has very good teeth. Never had a cavity but has had much dental work done due to falling and breaking her 4 front bottom teeth off.

Some older HFI folks on here have bad teeth but its from all the vomitting they did when they were young. Stomach acid erodes the enamel off the teeth making them soft and sensitive. If your little guys diet is under control then this isnt something you should have to worry about.

As he gets older and needs them cleaned the best thing to have them use is just plain pumice mixed with water.

There are a couple brands of toothpaste that is safe. Somewhere on this board it was discussed before. I don't remember all of them but I know Colgate - the old original type- is fine. Like everything else just read the label.

Dont fret over this visit. It'll be fine. Just be sure to stress he cant have sorbitol.

[charlie]

Hi Claudia,

as per what Tammy has said really. The mouth rinse if offered needs to be checked I seem to remember Megs was just given some plain water instead.

I had perfect teeth till I was 25 and then needed some work on the lower row after I had a bad head injury and vomited for months and it was that that they think caused the problem so I would agree with Tammy on the vomiting caused the problem as I don't have any sugar problem and although we didn't have a sweet diet I did have sugars etc.
But hopefully as you have little Carlitos on a balanced HFI diet he shouldn't be too sick.

We have Arm & Hammer do some without sorbitol in them in England but they are quite a strong taste so hard to get them to use it regularly.

Other than that Dentists should be no more of a problem to him than any other child especially if you find a good child friendly one.

[ukbill]

Come on people you think I would post anything here that cannot be proved??

In this case many times over!

1/. Archaeologists do use dental decay as an early initial indicator as to the age of a human skeleton "find" the more dental cavities the newer the find is likely to be. Dental cavities in people who died before sugar was refined and mass produced are very rare, and tend to be only rich people who could afford Honey.

2/. It is HFI people on this site who have reported having lost some or all their teeth as a result of eating Glucose!

3/. Glucose is instantly available to the bacteria in our mouths (unlike sucrose and fructose) allowing the bacteria to grow quickly. In so doing they produce an acid which is what actually rots your teeth. If you suck glucose sweets its like having your teeth sitting in a bath of acid all the time .

If you still don't believe me go ask any dentist!

What is very worrying is the statement "Some older HFI folks on here have bad teeth but its from all the vomiting they did when they were young"

No this should not be the case EVER!

If any child with HFI is vomiting at all its because 1/. They have a normal childhood tummy bug or 2/. they have eaten FAR too much sugar / Fructose!

IF its 1/. then this is very unlikely to be a long term problem. and will of course cause no tooth decay measurable.

But NO HFI child on a safe diet should vomit at all, or any more frequently than any other child!

If your child regularly vomits after you give it a particular food then why are you feeding it?

Perhaps after the HFI child accidentally eats something once in a blue moon yes, but otherwise if frequent vomiting is occurring then the HFI child's very life is in danger.. NO JOKE!

The vomiting reflex is because we have ingested a potentially damaging amount of Sucrose / Fructose, it will not happen on tiny amounts after the first few months. So far as I am able to find out anyway.

If you have an HFI child who is vomiting regularly then Please Please check the diet out because you are missing something to be sure.

IF an HFI child vomits enough to rot its teeth then its liver will be severely damaged possibly and almost certainly resulting in Life long damaged.

I repeat no HFI child will vomit any more regularly than any other child, if given HFI safe foods.. (unless there is another condition causing this).

Reflux and trouble swallowing in young children with HFI, I have been told, (I have no independent proof on this) can be as a result of liver damage. If an HFI safe diet is followed early enough then the liver can repair itself given enough time.

Because we rarely swallow tooth paste the amount of Sorbitol ingested is not a real risk to any HFI child on a good diet.

The reason we are very unlikely to swallow it is we do not like the sweet taste!.. unless..... yes you guessed it.. we have that self defense taken away from us.

The dental mouth wash as Charlie pointed out is best swapped for water, but I have never been inclined to swallow it because it tastes NASTY!

So in short Claudia just about any tooth paste will be safe for him, so do not worry however I would avoid all the "children's" versions though, some do contain actual sugar.. or used to anyway.

Keep smiling you have a beautiful handsome boy

[charlie]

OK, lets stop panicking people.

Alot of the new people on here have probably run a mile by now....................

I think the difference is that nowadays kids are being diagnosed much earlier so are already avoiding the foods that will cause them to be sick, but that is only very recent, until then parents like myself joined this board with very sick children who were vomiting every day and nobody knew why and it is these that may have damage as a result.

With early avoidance then that should not be a problem and they should have beautiful shiny teeth. The best policy is to research toothpastes and when you find a safe one buy a lifetimes supply incase they change the recipe.

Sorbitol is the biggest problem as most of the kids ones have this in it here. You can always try just bicarb of soda as someone posted - but it seems to have gone now - I just couldn't remember what it was a few days ago.

[ukbill]

Charlie 100% agreed.

[Dies]

Hi there,

When I ran out of our usual toothpaste, when I thought I found another safe one. My sun had a instant vomitting reaction that I did not understand untill months after when I recognised glycerol as an ingredient that he reacts to.
So I now check for glycerol as well.
Does anyone recognise this?

[Tammy]

glycerol and glycerin are one of those things that Regina can only do a small amount of. She's ok with it in toothpaste as she doesn't swallow a lot of it.

It is also in a popsicle that she likes. It works a lot like broccoli for her. One is okay. One everyday will give her the runs. Your son must be more sensitive than her.

[serene]

Dries, I have also figured out that I react to Glycerol. This one took a long time to figure out. I am not sure if it is fructose related or a separate issue. I have had life long skin sensitivities and this may explain it as Glycerin is in nearly all skin care products as well as vitamins. I have started using Ecodent tooth powders instead of toothpaste as they almost all have some sort of sweetener I react to. The Ecodent seems to be working well.