Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Green teeth, a good thing?

This is something I was mortified about initially but I'm going to share it because I think it's a good thing in the long run. How the heck can green teeth be a good thing?

A few weeks ago I was brushing my boy's teeth and I noticed green along the base of his bottom teeth. I panicked and brushed that poor kids teeth like mad, he even asked me if his teeth were alright. We did everything we could for a week to try to get rid of the green to no avail. I had to call the dentist to admit my poor parenting because my son had green teeth. I was so ashamed.

The dentist checked his teeth and gave us the good news that it was only a surface stain and since it's green he believed it was a sign of excess iron. The excess comes out in saliva and can stain the teeth green, the Sonicare toothbrush we bought for him took care of the stain and his teeth look normal again.

I know you're wondering what this has to do with a gluten free blog so I'll back track 3 years. When my boy was 1 they tested his blood to check his iron levels and they were low. We had him on the liquid iron drops for awhile and then moved him to Flintstone's vitamins when he was older because they had iron in them. With the green teeth it's clear he doesn't need the extra iron anymore and I believe this means he is finally fully healed from the damage gluten caused to his body. It only took 18 months of a gluten free diet for him to get there but it's great news to know he's healed.

This then posed a new issue for me to find vitamins he could have. Be warned that Costco brand children's vitamins contain milk and wheat. It's in small print and I almost missed it. The Lil Critter's vitamins are GF and DF so those are a safe option and you can get them at Costco.

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