What Really Causes Dental Decay In Children?

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What Really Causes Dental Decay In Children?

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What Really Causes Dental Decay In Children?

By Bill Sardi

There is something wrong with what the public is being told

about the origin of cavities (caries) in children's teeth. There is

obviously some truth to the fact that the availability of refined sugar

resulted in an epidemic of dental caries in children. But a review of

scientific studies attempting to make a link between refined sugar and dental

caries could only find a strong relationship between sugar consumption and the

development of caries in two published papers, 16 papers found a moderate

relationship and 18 papers found only a weak-to-no relationship. (1)

There is little question that internal factors govern the

development of cavities. Observe older adults with dry mouth who rapidly

develop tooth decay. Saliva buffers the strong acids from acid-forming

bacteria in the mouth.

In the 1930s dentist Don Chalmers Lyons wrote about tooth

decay. (2) The prevailing theory is that acid-forming bacteria in the

mouth (Streptococcus), which feed off of sugar, overgrow and the acid attacks

the dental enamel. This would make dental caries the most widespread

infectious disease of all. But Lyons asked, if acid attacks the teeth,

why doesn't every tooth develop cavities at the same time? Why are

cavities confined to a small area on the tooth? Dentists often see

perfect teeth in a filthy mouth, said Lyons. "The degree of dental

cleanliness does not determine the amount of decay," said Lyons.

More recent studies bear this out. A survey of dental

health among 762 school children found that 42% did not brush their teeth, and

33% of these non-brushers had no cavities compared to 42% of the brushers.

While this shows there is some value to brushing, why did 33% of the

non-brushers have no dental decay whatsoever? (3)

Tooth brushing at its best only yields marginal results in

prevention of caries. For example, a 3-year study of 12-year old adolescents

reported a prevalence of dental caries of 9.66 cavities for children who

brushed their teeth less than once a day, and 7.63 cavities for children who

brushed more than once a day. (4) The kids still got cavities, and a lot

of them.

Morning brushing is effective in reducing dental plaque, but

only by 11%, said one study. (5)

Another study concluded that teacher-supervised toothbrushing

with fluoride has little effect on dental caries prevention.(6) Yet

another study claims five-stroke brushing of teeth does not effectively remove

plaque and called the benefits of home tooth brushing "illusory." (7)

Lyons said, if bacteria were the sole cause of dental decay in

children, then a strong antiseptic mouth wash should vanquish the development

of cavities. However, even the use of penicillin did not eradicate

cavities. (8) Why do some teeth resist the action of bacteria and others

do not?

L:yons noted that certain tribes of "uncivilized people"

are free of dental decay. When these people leave their native lands,

dental decay appears. It could be related to the amount of sunlight they

receive and less clothing primitive that people wear? Lyons cites a study that

found 2500 children in Ireland, 83% whom had rickets (softening bones from

vitamin D deficiency), and 91% of these kids also had decayed teeth. Of

children free of signs of rickets, 73% had mouths free of decay!

Modern dentistry has become so dependent upon treatment to

support a living for dentists that it has all but forgotten what true prevention

is. Patients are blamed for not brushing or flossing enough. The

plaque and the cavities still occur.

And in this modern era, dental decay is treated as if it were

a fluoride deficiency. Yet an authoritative report in Nature Magazine

over two decades ago showed in recent decades that major reductions in dental

caries have occurred in unfluoridated areas with magnitudes of reduction

comparable to those attributed to fluoridation.(9)

Fluoridation of water, at 1 part per million concentration, is said to reduce

dental caries by hardening the teeth in growing children. But it is very

difficult to control fluoride concentration and fluorosis (mottled teeth) can

develop with overfluoridation. Spotted, yellow, brown stained or pitted

teeth are visual signs of fluorosis during childhood.

In fact, some disturbing reports indicate fluorosis increases

the risk of caries.m (10)

More disconcerting is a recent report showing that there is a

link between dental fluorosis (over-fluoridation) and gum disease. Dental

fluorosis now affects from one-third to one-half of US schoolchildren,

according to reports from the Centers for Disease Control.

More alarming, in a community in India that has the same concentration of

fluoride in water as US cities, the introduction of fluoridation actually

increased periodontal (gum) disease. (11)

 

So what as yet unidentified factor controls dental caries? Lyons already

hinted at vitamin D. The vitamin D-dental caries hypothesis was first

aired by Lady May Mellanby, whose husband discovered vitamin D in 1919.

Since vitamin D is needed for proper calcification of bones and teeth, her

theory made sense. But this idea was drowned under by a deluge of

research in the 1940s and 1950s indicting sugar as the cause of dental

decay. (12)

In 1929 another researcher suggested dental caries might be

regarded as a symptom of a vitamin deficiency. Proper calcification of

teeth creates a barrier against invasion of the tooth, said D. A. Entin in

1929. As early as 1932 animal experiments revealed that vitamin D

supplementation vanquished dental decay and the lack of vitamin D resulted in

one-third of the animals developing cavities. (13)

By 1938 dentists observed that tooth decay was seasonal.

Cavities were more likely to occur in winter months than in the sunny months of

summer. So Doctors E.C. McBeath and T.F. Zucker of Columbia University,

knowing vitamin D levels are higher in summer than winter, began an

experiment. They provided 800 international units (IU) of vitamin D to

school children for an entire year. The 800 IU dose of vitamin D, and not

a lower dose, reduced cavities by over 50%. (14)

The vitamin D hypothesis of dental caries was again tested

and results published in 1939. In this instance, researchers at ColumbiaUniversity

fed rats a vitamin D-rich diet and reported that "Vitamin D induced a

statistically valid decrease in the level of fissure caries as compared with

the control group." (15)

Over succeeding decades there were infrequent but continued

reports showing vitamin D deficiency induces dental caries in humans. (16) (17)

(18)

Another telling study was conducted by researchers at Boston University.

Researchers analyzed the amount of gingival (gum) inflammation and vitamin D

concentrations in blood serum among subjects 13-90 years of age. Those

subjects with the highest vitamin D blood serum concentrations were 20% less

likely to bleed when a dental probe was pressed against the gums. (19)

A revealing study was conducted in France. Researchers

studied 48 children and adults with rickets, some who had been given vitamin D

supplement before puberty. The vitamin D-supplemented subjects had normal

healthy dental status while the unsupplemented subjects did not. (20)

In 1998 a report by Canadian researchers questioned the

current thinking about baby-bottle tooth decay. The majority of

bottle-fed children don't develop this problem. Baby-bottle tooth decay

is very prevalent among aboriginal people who have diets very low in vitamin C

and calcium. (21)

Hungarian doctors report that the provision of 500 IU of

vitamin D to healthy full-term infants, there were still clinical signs of

overt rickets, included dental decay, in these babies. A strong dose of

vitamin D, 1200 IU, worked much better. (22)

Vitamin D's dental health benefits extend to adults as

well. In a study of adults over age 65 years, the provision of vitamin D

cut the number of lost teeth in half. (23) Post-menopausal women need to

be supplementing with vitamin D, not only to preserve their bones, but also

their teeth. (24)

Dentistry has been sitting on this information for decades,

apparently unwilling to conduct further research, unwilling to prescribe

vitamin D. We must be mindful that the public relies upon doctors and

dentists to conduct research about disease prevention, but such studies, if

successful, may also put these health professionals out of business. It

is unlikely the public will ever learn how to really prevent dental decay from

dentists, especially for children during the critical growth years.

Dentists have little understanding of nutritional factors and disease, electing

to concentrate on treatment rather than prevention.

The teeth begin to develop

in utero. Pregnant moms need get some sunshine for natural vitamin D and

take at least 1000 IU as a supplement to the diet. Young infants need at

least 800 IU or more. Vitamin C is also important for proper tooth

formation, about 20 milligrams per pound of body weight, consumed from breast

milk by mommy taking vitamin C supplements, or added to the baby bottle or

other beverages as children grow older. –Copyright 2007 Bill Sardi, Knowledge

of Health, Inc.

 

 

 

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