Xrays of the front teeth

Xray of the lower jaw showing the permament teeth under his gum line .. see how they have dissolved the roots of the teeth next to the incisors ...

Here is the xray of the top jaw ... where is the space for these huge permanent teeth in his little 5 yr old face????? the front teeth should start shaking soon as the roots are almost totally dissolved by the permanent teeth ...

He is over the hump ... said the dentist :)

Our dentist visit today was extremely positive.

The hygenist who cleaned his teeth said that the decay looked black - she said that she could not see brown any more - which is very positive. Black is arrested decay, brown is active decay.

The teeth in which the black decay fell out were ruled as totally arrested by the dentist. No soft spots, enamel hard and no active decay.

The big root canal molar, the one on his lower left had a lot of arrested decay. The dentist said that he could see some decay activity but far more arrested decay than active - he said "keep doing what you are doing and he will sail into his adult teeth with no issues"

He also said that L's adult teeth looked "fabulous". He said that the enamel was shiny and hard and very strong..

He said that there was no need for xrays of the molars as he saw no cause for concern any more! He said that if L had pain, to rush to his office, but he said that he did not think L would have pain now if he  made it this far.

He took xrays of the front teeth, his 2 lower teeth on either side of the incisors are in and have dissolved the roots of his baby teeth making them shake a little - just this morning L told me that his teeth were shaking.

His top permanent teeth have queued up behind the baby teeth and are ready to come down.

The 6 year molars are in on the top as I saw last week and yesterday. Dr S said that once they came in and meshed with the lower teeth, we could easily extract the trouble molars if necessary with no need for place holders. He said that we are almost there .. another few months and we can afford to lose the baby molars, but he did not think we would need that ...

Sigh ....

The visit was a lot more positive than I expected. The only thing that could have made it better was if we took the xrays today and compared it with those of June, but Dr S was so positive, and L has had xrays in March and June, I did not insist.

Onwards we go with bone broth and fish oil ... I have relaxed my no grain rule with him some ... but for the most part, I avoid grain like the plague .. nutritionally we are doing SO much better since having stopped grain  ....

I do have to plan meals ahead of time and can no longer fall back on boiling pasta for dinner ... but I'm happy to do anything to ensure his health ...

Dentist visit today

3 hours to go until we leave for Dr S's office ...

Dec 10 was a year since our diagnosis of 4 root canals. We made it through a year with no pain, no fillings, no drilling ...

I am so nervous about the visit today.

Some of L's decayed teeth have lost the black decay, leaving behind an incomplete tooth, a cute little perfectly white incomplete tooth.

The only tooth that is not totally white is the tooth that the dentists all said was the deepest root canal ... this tooth still has some shadows on it but L never complains of pain and the shadows have remained the same ...

Fingers crossed .. I dont think Dr S will give us a clean bill of health as I dont think the xrays can tell us that all is good with the biggest root canal. He did say that the right side had arrested in June ... so perhaps, maybe, we can get the same diagnosis for the left?

I am nervous ....

We still do grain free meals at home, bone broth daily, fish oil and probiotics, raw milk and a flouride tablet - this is from Norway .. this is what all of L's cousins do in Norway so we started him on it earlier this year ... I dont know what to think about it ..

On another note, L now has SIX .. YES, THATS RIGHT ... S*I*X permanent teeth ... I saw half of the right back molar peeping through his gums yesterday .. I had my eye on the left one which started coming down 2 weeks ago when suddenly I realised .. whoa!!! the other side is further along!!!!

So, once these guys come down, they will lock the lower molars and keep them from sliding in his jaw if we need to extract the tooth with the huge cavity ...

I have my fingers crossed that no action will be required other than watching for pain ...

No news is good news

Well .. L and A flew to Norway on 6/28. L continued to complain of tummy trouble and threw up on A on the 7hr flight into AMS. In Norway, he continued to complain of joint pain and tummy pain .. some days worse than others ... but no more complaints of head or tooth pain ..

A is continuing his diet the best he can without me. He found sprouted wheat bread and to the best of my knowledge is continuing the fish oil. I have no idea if he is doing the bone broth.

I dont ask ...

I would rather not know .. I cant control anything from here ...

I take it 1 day at a time and 1 meal at a time ...

The good news is that the 6 yr teeth are in and once the top one comes in, the meshing between the two will keep them from drifting in the jaw. This reduces the importance of the other baby teeth as place holders ...

Sigh ...

Am I losing sight of the forest for the trees?

The xray showed that the top teeth seem to have stagnated, in that the decay seems to have stopped but the lower teeth seem to have gotten worse but the dentist was not sure as the xray angle was slightly different than the last time. L was also complaining of stomach ache so the dentist thought that perhaps the headache and stomach ache were a related non-tooth issue. Well the stomach ache continued and I began to worry about appendicitis so off we went the next day to the ped. Turns out he had a virus which causes head, stomach and body ache. He stopped complaining about his teeth so he flew to Norway yesterday .. we are not sure if the teeth are still bothering him or not … but other than sedation and drilling, no way to tell. A and I both decided against an emergency sedation drilling the day before he was due to fly to Norway. Issue is now if he starts having pain in Norway, we have to fly back or have his teeth drilled or pulled there ..

Last night as I ate dinner alone, for the first time since this crazy tooth drama started, I felt no pressure about grain free bullshit … I ate my sweet potato and squash and hummus quietly .. it was amazing not having to get L to eat grain free food .... to not have the struggle ... to be able to eat in peace and quiet ....

and I have been wondering if I am doing this all wrong .. the amount of pressure I have put on us all to follow L’s diet (A does not and will not so L sees A eating GF bagels and cries for it) … I am beginning to feel it is not worth it .. I have to fight L and A to keep him on the diet … I am tired of fighting alone ..

I am sad that I have to say no to him so much and I have to push his bone broth smoothie on him so much …

For today, I am leaning towards throwing the towel in, stopping it all, scheduling the sedation and going for it all, root canals, caps and everything …

I don’t want to fight anymore …

I am not sure if I am creating behavioural issues in L with the frustration he feels when he is denied pizza and bread ...

In the grand scheme of things, is this worth it? His childhood is so short and so precious .... What am I doing?

I would curl into a ball and cry, but crying is a waste of time and energy ... 

Here is the xray from last week:

Here is the xray from March:

A made an animation gif that compares the two xrays. you can see the angle is slightly different between the two xrays.

Appointment with the dentist

This is about 2 months earlier than scheduled. However, he is complaining of headache and is pointing bilaterally to his TMJ area - which feels like the area that would be impacted by the new teeth coming in .. but I cant stand the thought that it could be from the decayed premolar. My lovely dentist gave me an appointment today so we will go to have him take a look at L's teeth and perhaps take an xray ...

First permanent tooth is in ... and is the premolar getting worse or better .. how can I not know?????

Right on schedule, 1.5 years early ....

I was flossing this teeth this am, we were late as usual.... and I with my usual insistence on his tooth routine, insisted that we make time to floss .. when lo and behold, I saw these little tips staring back at me ...

HIS FIRST PERMANENT TEETH ARE COMING UP ....

If you feel my caps locks are screaming at you, you are RIGHT ... I COULD NOT BE SCREAMING THAT LOUDER ...

DAMMIT ...

I have to be even more careful with the permanent teeth than I am with his baby teeth ..

I think I might die doing this ....

On a frightening note, he told me today that his tooth hurt. When I nonchalantly (on the outside - on the inside it was all jelly legs and butterflied stomach) which tooth, he pointed to his left premolar .. the one that has the biggest cavity which is the only one with the black decay in it ...

My stomach turned ...

I asked him how it felt and he said that it hurt when he ate apple or touched it ...

More stomach churning with a mental note to 911 call Dr Skodalakis on Monday.

I gently touched his gum where the new tooth is coming up and asked if that hurt, nope, he said, just this one and pointed to the premolar.

That night as I flossed and brushed his teeth, I brushed longer on the left premolar and with a little more force. It did not bother him at all. While flossing, as I ran the floss through, the floss ribbon slipped between the black enamel and white part of the tooth for the first time. I blinked with surprise a little and A who was watching my face said, "what is it?" ...

I think the black enamel might be falling off ....

So, now, is his tooth getting better or worse???? It certainly does not look worse ... but why does he say it hurts then? Is it referred pain from the new tooth coming in?? Or is his tooth feeling different now that the black enamel is getting ready to fall off??

I am not sure whether to get another xray before he leaves for Norway or not ...

Flossing feedback

When I floss L's teeth, I use dental tape as well as dental floss picks as the teeth where the decay fell out have little notches which are perfect for trapping food. Raw carrot and apple seems to be the worst offender as somehow it almost feels like it slips under his gum, so I first have to use the dental pick and slide it down from the gum base to the tooth and remove anything that is stuck under the gum and then run a long piece of dental tape between his teeth pulling out the food material ...

Yes, his tooth flossing which occurs twice a day is quite involved with special procedures for individual teeth.

Anyway ... this morning, I was doing the usual and he told me that he loved the way that the floss felt as it passed through his lower right molar and premolar gap. This is the area where the black enamel fell off leaving behind a perfectly white but incomplete tooth. But he said that on the other side, where we still have the blacked enamel (which to my hopeful (and hence discounted) eye is looking smaller and smaller), he said that he cannot feel the floss go through so not to bother doing it on that side.

I gently explained that I can do it extra on his right side since he likes it, but I must do it on the other side as I must clean all his teeth.

Interestingly, he cannot feel where the black enamel is but can where the white is .. and interesting that he told me about it ...

Below is the old xray of the side which had the huge cavity on the lower molar and premolar where we now have black enamel and where he does not have feeling of the floss going through ..

Hard to tell, but the teeth on the left side, which is his right is where the black enamel fell off:

In this image, you can see the black on the right side (his right):

This is the side where the black fell off on the lower premolar and where he loves the feeling of the floss going through

We continue on with our toothpowder, fish oil, bone broth, raw milk and cheese, absolutely no grain, sprouted lentil soups, vegetable bread, butter oil, coconut + xylitol mouthwash, xylitol gum .... he does not complain of any pain in his mouth and I still examine his gums everyday ...

So far, it seems like we are at status quo or a little better since the black fell off on one side.

A feels that the molar on the left does not look fully white and I can see what he means ... but I can see a huge white spot exactly where the xray showed decay.

Sept 15 is D Day ... that's when we go for xrays.

L leaves for his grandmother's in Norway with A for 6 weeks. I stay behind for some or all of this time and I shudder to think of his diet while away from me and my insistence on no grain and fish oil ....

His father will do as I say for the most part .. but he is not me and he will not run around as much as I do to make sure that L is getting everything I think his teeth need ....

Culinary failures (sigh) and a success

Sweet potato gnocchi - failed

Sprouting

Sweet potato/cauliflower bread

Muffins

Spaghetti Squash pizza

Obviously, I cannot learn from my mistakes and must make the mistake 3-4 times ... I broke yet another glass bottle trying to freeze bone broth. However, I have gotten wiser about this and remove the broth popsicle from the bottle and wash it to remove the outer layers that could possibly have shards of glass. I saved more than 50% of the broth I think.

Washed popsicle waiting to find a new home

I baked spaghetti squash and sweet potato the day before, so had everything ready. Every time I run my oven, I bake vegetables for the next day or so, that way I have baked veggies ready to be made into pizza or bread or vegetable cakes or whatever ..
I squeezed as much liquid as I could get out of the squash. The more you squeeze, the crispier the pizza will get.

1 egg beaten

I fried shallots and garlic

Here is how much liquid came out of the squash ... you cant tell since there is no scale, but it is a LOT..

I mixed in the baked sweet potato, fried shallots, garlic, salt, oregano, cheese, coriander powder

Then I flattened it out onto a baking pan with parchment paper

Baked for 35 mins until it got crispy

Topped with cheese, pepperoni etc

Son did not like the stringy texture of the pizza, so we got around that by cutting into bite sized pieces and grilling it to make it crispier.

I will try this again but will blend the squash to remove the stringy feel that he does not like. Can also try the same with cauliflower and sweet potato.

Food Failures

The banana bread I tried yesterday did not work .. the fresh coconut threw off the moisture balance.

If commercial coconut flour does not have phytic acid, all my efforts will be in vain .. I dont even know how to measure that ... ahh .. I could be driving myself crazy for naught ... 

The bread rose and fell ...

As you can see from the mark on the dish .. all that work and the boy did not like it and I cant blame him .. it feels like eating a wet sock flavoured with cardamon ..
Ah ... I am tired ...

In other good news, here is my 3rd batch of bone broth FROM THE SAME BONES ..
I boil the same bones over and over ..about 12 hrs each time. As you can see, even in the 3rd round, I have quite some gelatin.

Back went the bones onto the stove where they are simmering now and will simmer until 11:30pm tonight.

In other failure news, I made him these sweet potato, chicken, zucchini cakes, squash cakes flavoured with coriander, paprika, pepper, salt, garlic,  - too much salt :( which is why he did not eat it ...

So, we fell back on the sprouted beans and bone broth and sweet potato bread ...

Thankfully, I had a grain free option to fall back on ...

Recipes

Cauliflower sweet potato lentil bread

150 gms baked cauliflower
150 gms baked sweet potato (or butternut or acorn squash)
1/2 cup sprouted lentil flour
2 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 tsp salt
1 Tablespoon yeast
4 Tablespoon ghee or coconut oil (any oil will do but a tooth friendly oil is preferred)
1 Tablespoon maple syrup or agave or sugar
1/2 tsp rice vinegar
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 200F.

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Put cauliflower and sweet potato into blender and make smooth puree. Move puree into bowl (I use a kitchen aid but a hand held blender will also work). Add in the dry ingredients, oil, sweetner, vinegar and eggs. Mix well for about 7-9 minutes on a medium speed. I found that I can actually overbeat the xanthan gum so I dont set my kitchen aid to more than 3 for bread.

Prepare a pan by putting parchment paper on the bottom. I usually double this recipe and use a 9X4 pan.

Put mixture into the pan and pan into the oven. Turn off the oven and let the bread rise for 30 mins. After 30 mins turn oven to 375F and set timer for 40 mins.

After 40 mins cover bread with foil to prevent the top from burning.

Test temperature. Bread should be around 204F when you remove, however, it will still collapse. I am trying to figure out why it collapses ... have not figured it out yet ...

Banana bread

I consider last night's experiement a failure as I used fresh coconut flower. Weston Price's book said that commercial coconut flour has phytic acid as it is processed under high temps. I have no idea so to be on the safe side I have been using fresh coconut flower which is wreaking havoc to the water content of everything. However, son is happy to eat it and I am happy as I have zero tolerance for phytic acid currently.
Recipe taken from http://thesaffrongirl.com/banana-zucchini-breadcakemuffins-nut-free-grain-free-egg-free-sweetener-free/

BANANA ZUCCHINI BREAD (Nut Free, Grain Free, Egg Free, and Sweetener Free!)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup mashed, ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, not melted, but soft
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup grated zucchini
• 1/2 cup coconut flour - I used fresh coconut flour

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 180C (350F).
2. In a large bowl, mix the bananas, coconut oil, orange zest, vanilla extract, and cardamom. With a hand beater, beat until smooth and fluffy.
3. Add the sea salt and baking soda and incorporate well.
4. Add the coconut flour and mix well.
5. Fold in the zucchini.
6. Pour into a loaf pan (mine is about 6×3 inches) and bake for 40-45 minutes.
7. Allow to cool before removing from loaf pan, and to cool completely before slicing.

Cloud muffins

Recipe taken from http://www.food.com/recipe/carb-free-cloud-bread-411501

Sweet potato bread

Taken from http://www.wholefoodsimply.com/wholefood-simply-bread/

Sweet Potato Bread

300 grams cooked sweet potato flesh*

1/2 cup coconut flour

3 eggs

3 tablespoons of coconut milk

1 teaspoon bicarb soda / baking soda

Juice of half a lemon

pinch of salt

*I roast a purple skin / white flesh sweet potato and keep the flesh for this recipe, I personally think the skins are delicious ad eat them as they are. You can use whatever sweet potato you like.

Preheat your oven to 180 Degrees Celsius or 350 Degrees Fahrenheit.

Grease and line a mini loaf tin (mine is 6″ x 2.5″ ) with baking paper hanging oven the sides for easy removal.

Put the ingredients into your food processor or blender and pulse until well combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, smooth over the top with a spoon. Bake for 40 minutes. Cover the loaf with foil and bake for a further 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before slicing, Enjoy.

banana bread