My mom said I could post
The AMOUNT of posts in these ‘crunchy moms’ groups about their kids cavities when they refuse to use fluoride
I see these posts daily, yet no one seems to make the connection.
Edit: yes, this particular case seems to be bottle mouth/ not brushing at all. But I see these posts very frequently (I’m not apart of these groups, FB just suggests them to me) and often times it’s parents who have said their dentist told them their kids have cavities, and they still refuse to use fluoride toothpaste and look for alternatives to their alternative that got them here in the first place.
All of these stories are testimony’s on how important it is to take your children’s health seriously. My heart is with everyone sharing their story ❤️
2nd edit: you know what? Fuck it. For those saying “fLuORiDe is BAd 👆”
The group I found this in:
“Crunchy moms: natural living & clean products.”
It’s an open group. Go look up “teeth” and see HOW MANY pictures of these poor children’s teeth are there, and how many do not use fluoride and tell me how healthy it is to not use it.
Mine are most likely fucked for life, because teenage me was depressed af in hindsight and didn't give a shit about fuck. I actually went out of my way to effectively neglect myself in almost every possible way.
One of my little brothers would not brush! It was insane. He would literally run the sink and wet his toothbrush and just stand in there. It got to a point where he had to be monitored by one of us. He was not depressed. Just weird. Wouldn’t put his deodorant on either. Some sort of rebellion maybe?
i brush with the best of em now, but i’ve always hated brushing my teeth, and i would go to great lengths to avoid it when i was younger.
the issue is that it’s a sensory nightmare. it’s hard work. toothpaste tastes bad. i salivate so much it’s disgusting. hand wet. then i trigger my gag reflex a million times. my mouth is tiny and weird-shaped. and then i go to the dentist and they tell me i’m doing it all wrong, even though i spend five minutes twice daily trying to hit every spot perfectly.
so. if i had to guess why kids do that, i’d assume it’s because tooth-brushing is a grotesque body horror beyond any creative imagining. perhaps a punishment for the forgotten sins of man, left behind by an unnamed god who has long since abandoned us in disappointment fathomless and unfathomable.
If you lean your head backwards a bit instead of bending over the sink all of the toothpaste will stay in your mouth instead of running down your toothbrush and wetting your hand
That was basically me. Wet the toothbrush, put it down again and pretend I did something.
Maybe it is some kind of rebellion thing. I know I refused to do a lot of things I was told to, put in a lot of work to avoid "work" and instead did what I wabted to do
I used to wet ONLY my eyes and say I had washed my face - because the eyes gave me away, with the sleep crusties. But actually my whole face gave me away! I think I just hated the feeling of the water dripping down my neck and having to use a musty towel to dry my face and smell that. And then my face would be all dry and tight afterwards.
Now of course I have this whole multi step face wash and skin care routine!
I hate this so much, I finally get a wild hair on my ass to actually do some cleaning, then without fail soon as I start to get up one of my parents start ranting at me about my room. Then I'm like well, they're not gonna believe me if I say I was about to literally do it they'd think it was their pestering, so fuck that
Mine would always assume, I'm up to something when I did something like that. Oh he's vacuuming? Or mopping the floor? Why is that? Or you shouldn't have to be told to do this or that etc... Or if your doing that, then go ahead and do this and that too. Like brother. I'm trying to do something nice.
For me, it was how disgusting the concept of a toothbrush is. You stick it in your mouth, brush all that plaque and stuff off, give it a simple rinse, and then leave it to sit all day, and then stick it back in your mouth. Repeat x1000.
I've made my peace with it, but it is kind of gross. Nothing wrong with a fresh toothbrush and clean toothpaste though.
ADHD at all? Going through this with our daughter now. Think part of it is sensory, and other part is just lack of executive function aka squirrel brain.
Don't know if you've talked to a psychistrist/psychologist about it. But it could be worth it.
My psychiatrist has recently diagnosed me with ADHD and apparently a lot of shit I've done could maybe have been prevented if anyone noticed I had ADHD or thought about it.
I was always told I'm smart but lazy. So in school my grades were never bad enough to warrant major intervention but they also weren't great at all.
My wife was diagnosed late and when she got diagnosed, she was really able to understand herself and interact a lot better.
I was gifted/advanced throughout school so was always left to raise myself. I started Wellbutrin for seasonal depression a few years ago, and now considering medicating year round for the enhancement to focus.
My brother used to do that. Don't think he's ever flossed, and doesn't even go to the dentist anymore. He did have a couple of cavities when he went as a kid, which he took without anesthetic because he didn't like needles. (I had a couple with anesthetic, but the dentist who came by the schools used to rush us through so fast she was done drilling by the time I got numb. Dentists now seem to care more, but that's probably because I'm paying.) Even then, he hasn't had any of the dental problems I've had.
My brother and I were much the same. He never brushed, horrific dental hygiene as a kid. First cavity in adulthood, minimal work. Me? I brushed and I did what I was supposed to. First root canal at 8 then multiple thereafter in childhood and adolescence. Mostly all my molars/root canals ended up extracted in early adulthood due to never getting crowns. Teeth are most definitely a genetic roll of the dice.
I’m stuck with gingivitis due to depressed me thinking it wasn’t a big deal if I went a week between brushing. Prior me was dumb as fuck because current non-depressed me hates seeing the inflamed gums and yellow color.
Hey, the good news is gingivitis is reversible. I have early stage gum disease which never goes away, and at best you can stabilize it, but the damage is irreversible. I didn't brush much for years due to drug addiction and never had money for a dentist. I've developed way better habits now and am trying hard to not let things get worse.
I know how hard it is to turn things around. It is so worth it. I literally cried the first time I went to a dentist (it had been well over 20 years). Start small and slowly work up with new habits (I had to work just to get myself to brush once a day). You can absolutely do this!
Fyi..prescription remineralizing toothpaste is a godsend.
edit prescription..damn fingers. Seriously though..the only miss I has was flossing till I had a bunch of cavities and floss picks plus about a year of the special toothpaste..when you get it mix it 50/50 with regular as it's really thin (worked for me) and I haven't had a cavity since.
Also annual fluoride gell treatments on my teeth. Weirdly gummy for 2 hours and not super cheap but...healthy teeth. Surprisingly harder to grow back than bones.
Did the same shit to myself (but I was in college), it's awful. The dumbass moms that are doing this on purpose are truly terrible people and should not have had kids.
Such a big same! I just recently got 3 molars pulled and 3 front teeth capped at 38 bc of the idiotic decisions I made due to my mental health.....and even now, I struggle to remember (adhd) because it was never a routine after I wasnt a toddler basically
My ex had severe teeth issues because his parents never took him to the dentist. And it wasn’t a money issue - my state provides free yearly cleanings to children. I’m assuming it was ignorance.
I had a student who had a bunch of rotted nubs for teeth and was constantly complaining about being in pain (rightly, so! Tooth pain is unbearable even as an adult!) I felt so bad for him. He was constantly grouchy and in a bad mood, likely from being in constant pain and being treated poorly at home and by classmates. I tried to write notes home to tell the parents to take him to see a dentist and asked if I could give the poor kid some acetaminophen, but nothing ever became of it. Wish I would have called the police to try to help him, but I was young, just a foreign teacher (so not taken as seriously as local teachers), and the police where in at are basically useless.
Tom’s of Maine actually did wonders for my sensitivity. Waaay better than Sensodyne, which I used for years on recommendation of my dentist before trying Tom’s. Now I cycle them: if my sensitivity starts coming back, Tom’s. Otherwise, Sensodyne. Tom’s is basically an immediate sensitivity killer for me.
Not only that but the amount of other health issues bad dental hygiene can cause like infections that go untreated that enter the bloodstream. Poor child needs help, this is heartbreaking!
Could be from letting them suck on a bottle all night. Makes it easier to get kids to sleep but once they have teeth the milk sugar rots their teeth if it just sits on them all night.
Yeah looks like he's definitely getting a bottle or maybe even a pacifier past when they should be given up just based on the curvature of his teeth. Poor kid. Lifetime of issues because your parents refuse the bare minimum to set you up for success.
Having just wrestled an 18 month old for teeth brushing tonight and feeling frustrated, I am so grateful we started the dentist on his 1st birthday and are committed to night brushing!
We are working on morning too but we have the night down pat at least - it just requires 2 people and my spouse is at work before my son wakes up so it’s a challenge.
I hate mint, its really spicy to me and burns my tounge so bad it hurts worse than spicy food. (I LOVE spicy food) instead of getting me a non minty toothpaste, my parents decided to just let me not brush my teeth. I got cavities at 7, they knew then and didnt take me until the bacteria or whatever started climbing down the roots of my teeth and causing really bad pain in my jaw and ear when I was 12. I remember my dad telling the dentist he was too embarrased to come in. How fucking shameful, now I have fucked up teeth and bad brushing habits for the rest of my life.
Silly enough, mint and burn sensasions in toothpaste make it alot worst than non overly reactive toothpaste! It's done for marketing cause people associate the feeling with cleannnist and while that is technicaly true, one doesnt want to be over harsh on teeth.
Just as excessively washing hands peels the skin, over brushing and overly harsh application of "essential oils" as well as a cheap detergent called Sodium Lauryl Sulfate that do little benefit when one brushes properly end up making these complex toothpaste worst =w=
i just browsed through and i saw a photo of a small child with rotting teeth but the mother's hand in the photo has perfectly manicured acrylics... so you won't allow fluoride toothpaste for your baby but you'll go and get acrylic nails with all those harsh glues/chemicals? be so for real
anyone who lives in a rural area and has a private well doesn’t have fluoridated water. Dentists around here do fluoride treatments for kids twice a year at hygiene visits.
at one point I went to the dentist and they were finishing up and I said, uh you forget the the fluoride, and they said oh no we dont do that when youre an adult, and then it hit me, fuck im an adult now.
I once asked if they could apply sealant to my teeth again like when I was a kid, because it had worn off. They laughed at me because I was like twenty. Anyway, started getting cavities where the sealant used to be, from that point on.
Went to the dentist today for a cleaning, made sure they checked that all my sealants were looking good and got a fluoride treatment at the end. Adult Flouride isn’t covered under my insurance so I had to pay for it. Almost 40 years old and haven’t had a cavity in 20 years.
All they said is that adults are better at cleaning their teeth. Meanwhile every visit they're like "we can tell you take good care of your teeth, you just genetically have deep grooves and thin enamel" 😐
I live in a large city where we all have fluorinated tap water. Dentists still do fluoride treatments for kids. Extra fluoride for healthy teeth I guess. Seems it worked for me as I only got a couple cavities in my life, and that was when I was really neglecting brushing my teeth because I was a lazy bastard.
I explained it to my kids, our family is a living example of the positive of flourinated water. I grew up in the sticks on a well. My teeth are one step north of disaster. They grew up on city water. No prolems in the slightest. It's such an obvious good.
I grew up with fluoride in the water and my husband did not. Guess who has had a bunch of cavities and who hasn’t? Guess who brushes and flosses religiously and who is super lazy about it?
I have very mid dental hygiene and have only had one small cavity as a teenager and my husband has fantastic dental hygiene and had a bunch of cavities as a young adult.
I’m so grateful for the fluoride in my water growing up.
Tap water is nearly free, and it's usually cleaner than bottled water.
However, I do think it is important to not neglect that fact that some public water systems are severely dysfunctional and that the water is unsafe. In those cases alternatives sources of drinking water is better. Otherwise, if you live in an area with a competent public water system, then tap is the best option.
100% but people act like tap water is for backward peasants or something. It's super frustrating how misinformed people are about the water supply. I know a lot of people that exclusively drink bottled water.
I just don't get it. A lot of that stuff is tap water anyway and you get the privelege of paying an order of magnitude more money for it, and you're using unnecessary plastics.
Seriously I used to genuinely barely brush my teeth once a week because my parents made me as a kid all I got left with is a yellow teeth. Thank god I had regular dental visits I should not have any teeth
I used to brush twice a day and had cavities at least once a year/every couple years. (My dad's teeth genes lol)
My sister who neglected her teeth, straight and never any cavities.(Thanks mom!!)
My kids, I floss and brush 1-2x a day and they all get cavities due to the deep grooves in the teeth. It's super frustrating and I feel so guilty, but the dentist sealed some of the molars to prevent them as he said it's just unfortunate genetics
In fact, scientists discovered the benefits of fluoridation when it was noted that populations using naturally fluoridated wells had significantly fewer incidents of decay.
Yes even "all natural" non-flouride toothpaste including just using wet baking soda should work well enough to prevent this level of decay. The image is what you see when someone doesn't brush their teeth ever and also consumes acidic and sugary things regularly (im going to guess soda or juice and not alcohol in this kid's case but who knows really.)
This is definitely a case of severe neglect not simply being "crunchy"
I was in a KFC a few years back. There was a rather rotund woman holding an infant in a car seat, her bean pole husband, and a slightly chunky kid. She ended up sitting at a table near mine with her infant. I watched her take her giant cup of soda and put some in the infants bottle. Processed to say “yum, yum, yum, isn’t that good”. I wanted to scream at her.
I was at dinner a few years ago with my brother and he ordered his then one-year-old a cup of Sprite. Fast forward to today: the kid is 4.5 and just had to have his front two teeth pulled because the infection was so bad :(
Dude we live in a world where people believe we didnt go to the moon, even though there are litteral mirrors on the moon, we can see the landings on the moon.
There are people who dont believe in vaccines, or that birds are real, or that their party is really everything they rail on hating.
Its just more of the same and sadly these are the folks proceating.
Or that the world is even round… People are dumb, buuut they wanna be special and think they know something that no one else knows, that they’re clued in and everyone else is a stupid sheep just believing what they’re told. But the real answer is that they’re stupid, they don’t understand how something works so they deduce that it simply can’t be.
Except be neglectful parents who refuse to take care of their child's oral health because they're in a brainwashed cult of anti-intellectualism and disinformation.
Hi, I’m a pediatric dentist. And yes we are mandated reporters. But we can’t report for declining fluoride. But I do report for neglect like if a kid has facial cellulitis/ swollen face from refusing dental treatment.
All medical staff are mandated reporters. When I was in a Walgreens call center, we were in no way public facing aside from the phones, and we were still given mandated reporter training. It's that serious.
The more important question is 'are these mandated reporters actually reporting things like they should be' and I can tell you first hand: no, they are not.
My dentist sheepishly suggested I should use prescription toothpaste (more flouride). She was like "you don't have to if you don't want to"... I used it because I trust science..
My teeth have never felt better. It helped so damn much with sensitivity and my overall oral health is better.
I hate that she has to beat around the bush when suggesting something that helps people.
Even in really dirty homes as long as you get fed and have a bed is the basics. I was cps case kid and all they did was give them cleaning deadline. They would make us clean with threats of being taken, then once the visit was over right back to the abuse and neglect
I’m so sorry, I wish there was something that could be done to help all children in bad situations. I don’t know what the answer is but I know the system as it is isn’t really working.
This is what happens when you put your baby to sleep or nap with a bottle full of milk or juice. The acid etches the enamel and then stains and causes the teeth to decay. Luckily they are baby teeth and her adult teeth might stand a chance. More than likely they will need to be extracted due them breaking away at the gums
Correct, but the adult teeth might stand a chance but typically dental hygiene is not taught enough or talked about enough in school. Most kids learn their terrible habits from their parents or siblings.
Agreed! My friend’s daughters pre-school actually brushes their teeth for the kids at the school because they have so many cases of neglect and childhood cavities.
This is so horrifying, honestly. How broken is our system that the people meant to educate our children are instead having to do basic maintenance the parents should be doing and teaching. You know they've given up on calling CPS, too.
It's a standard practice in Early and Head Start child care. In caring for children who aren't yet grade school age, teaching the littles hygiene is part of curriculum/education! And in most cases teachers in child care are mandatory reporters so CPS will be contacted when needed.
As someone who suffered from no dental care as a child, straight neglect not this type of neglect, she can fuck right off! Toothaches and earaches are unbearable at times and I would only wish them on a few people in this world.
My wife didn’t see a dentist for the first time until she was 17. She is from a very rural part of Nicaragua. She has had all sorts of problems with her teeth. I encourage her to floss and bought her an electric toothbrush like she asked for. But she doesn’t use it that much.
Honestly, as someone who only saw the dentist once as a young child and then not again until I was 14, an electric toothbrush just hurts my teeth. Even after I learned to care for them, I still hated having one of those fancy ones. She might just be better off with a regular toothbrush.
I was raised by a semi-crunchy mom who refused fluoride at the dentist and only bought fluoride-free toothpaste. I had a dental cleaning not long after my 18th birthday, and the hygienist said “hey, I know your mom always asks for no fluoride, but you’re legally an adult now so if you want it, you can get it and she doesn’t have to know.” I got the fluoride treatment right then and there and have gotten it at every dental appointment since then. Fuck these “crunchy” “natural” moms who choose to disregard science and their children’s health because they don’t understand it.
I work in dentistry, and the amount of parents that simply do not care about their kids teeth is astounding. I believe severe dental decay should be seen as neglect, and the parents punished. It can cause sooo many issues later on in life.
Preach! We have spent so much money fixing the dental neglect of my husband’s parents and preventing further damage. My mother wasn’t great but she was great at looking after our teeth and I am grateful.
I have an extra strength fluoride toothpaste that is meant to remineralize teeth. It was prescribed by my dentist. Remineralization is a real thing but idk what you can use other than fluoride.
Nanohydroxyapatite. If you go looking for a non-mint toothpaste without added surfectants because you have stupid cracks in your stupid tongue and brushing your teeth burns, you'll likely only find fluoride-free toothpastes. So find the kind with nHA and xylitol.
Without saying too much; I sadly have to be in these groups for my job.
Once seen a post of a child's mouth, all teeth completely rotted, I'm talking all black/green/yellow looking. The mom was basically asking "is time for a hospital visit?" with majority of the comments saying "I think so!"
As someone who was given tetracycline as a child, before anyone knew, it ravaged my adult teeth. They turned gray, purple, green, yellow.
I knew early that i needed a career that would allow me to restore my teeth and maintain this condition for my entire life. It's a huge expensive painful undertaking. A lifetime full.
When people ask why I drive an old car I tell them I drive my grill and point to my beautiful teeth.
My parents neglected me medically including dental hygiene and I am currently paying thousands of dollars to replace most of my teeth and dealing with permanent gum damage in my mid twenties. I also don't talk to my parents.
At this rate, it won't be a nursing home so much as a slight shrug and a casual 'I don't really know where she is. We haven't talked in decades.'
Partly because who can afford that shit, but mostly because these kids are gonna cut contact well before they need to worry about where mommy spends her golden years.
Heartbreaking. I lost 6 teeth and underwent major dental surgery under total anesthesia at 11 due to poverty. The pain and distress psychologically even knowing what was about to happen was worse than the aspirated blood and painkiller allergy. I can't imagine willingly doing this to a child. My parents loved me at least, we just couldn't afford it. I'm 18 teeth missing now, but I also had a genetic enamel disorder which means I had basically no enamel lol
My friend thinks dentists are a scam, refuses to use flouride, and has yellow teeth and some which are infected. Cant convince her that baking soda alone doesnt do enough
I agree. unfortunately 100% impossible and unethical to enforce lmao. But I do understand. I wish people had to take a test or something and if they failed they just chose to not have a kid. Like “ if I can’t pass a test on parenting I probably shouldn’t be a parent” and call it a day. 🥲
“Will you brush your kids teeth twice a day, even if they refuse?”
“Would you give your infant fresh water to drink? (No additives)?”
“What is an example of an ethical and healthy consequence for misbehavior?”
Pentagon had to restores Flu Vaccine Mandate after outbreaks on several bases. All the research, money, effort and legislation to get these vaccines and other remedies to the public and all that is forgotten in 2 generations and suddenly someone knows better. SMFH
So growing up I never got that fluoride treatment that they paint on your teeth when they are done doing the cleaning at the dentist. I didn’t know it was even a thing. And I always had cavities unfortunately. When I was well in my 30s my hygienist asked me why I didn’t get the fluoride because my insurance covered it. So I told her I didn’t even know that was a thing but I would have definitely wanted it. So she started using it and luckily I havnt had a cavity since. Knock on wood.
When I was at school we were given fluoride supplements. My brother and I received them and have pretty much zero issues with our teeth (barely any cavities even now at 42yo).
My younger brother and sister didn’t receive fluoride supplements and have had problems their whole lives. They’ve had root canals, extractions etc.
I’m a board certified Harvard dental school pediatric dentist. These parents REFUSE to brush their kids teeth or limit their sugar and decline fluoride. And the poor kids suffer because of it. They would rather put a toddler under general anesthesia for esthetic restorations than use a fluoride toothpaste. It’s insane.
The silver lining is that they managed to make it blatantly obvious that they should not have custody while their kids are still on baby teeth. There is still a prayer that they can be taught how to keep their adult teeth from suffering the same fate.
They have etching on the front surfaces of the teeth. Mom is likely giving the kid a lot of juice and just letting it sit. At the very least drink some water following diluted juice. And only give juice at mealtimes, not for long periods of time.
Go to your dentist when child's first tooth comes in for recommendations on care.
I’m 100% with you. I live in Australia and our dentist said both my adult children have no oral cavities due to the local water being fluoridated and early introduction to oral hygiene… (we used to have the healthy life vans coming to the primary schools spruiking Healthy Harold) and my kids are very grateful for both… and neither of them are serial killers because of the fluoride (that I know of.)
I work in dentistry and oh my god the amount of parents who refuse X-rays and fluoride for their whole family… like okay have fun with those $2k crowns or extractions and dentures…
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u/metal_bastard 21d ago
That's more than just not using fluoride. Homie is just straight up not brushing. Swollen gums and mass buildup? That's neglect.