**Breastfeeding moms note: this office is NOT supportive of breastfeeding.**…read more
First, the good: there was a kind hygienist and sparkling facilities that were clearly designed with kids in mind (bright colors, toys, iPads, Disney movies playing). These strike me as features you want in a pediatric dental practice.
Now, the bad. In summary: the dentist we saw made recommendations that contradict major medical organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the World Health Organization, and the American Dental Association, as well as our own pediatrician. The dentist we saw was unprofessional and overbearing, and the lecture he subjected me to bordered on harassment. The recommendations he made were outside his areas of expertise, contradicted recent medical studies, and seemed to be based on his personal opinion.
I took my 2-year-old daughter for her first dentist appointment yesterday. We saw Dr. Williams. Before he even looked in my daughter's mouth, he noticed that I had checked the box for "nursing" on our form. He asked if this was true, and I told him that we nurse once before bed, and then brush her teeth.
He accused me of nursing only for my own emotional benefit, and told me I was serving as a "human pacifier." I found this condescending and humiliating, and was stunned that a medical professional would speak to me in this way. He recommended switching to a plastic pacifier instead, which I told him contradicted what I had read about pacifier use on the American Dental Association website.
Dr Williams went on to tell me that nursing "has no nutritional benefit at this age", a claim that has been widely disproved in recent studies. I told him as much, and he interrupted me to ask if my daughter eats "baby food." She eats regular food, in fact, but we have discussed with her pediatrician the benefits of continued nursing to her developing digestive system.
He ignored this, and continued to berate me for nursing, without looking at my daughter's teeth. He told me that nursing would increase her chances of getting ear infections, which is both the exact opposite of what every medical study says, and the exact opposite of our own experience (my daughter has never had an ear infection).
Dr Williams shared an anecdote in which he was invited to speak at a La Leche League meeting (he called it "the lesh society"), and explained disparagingly that this was a group of women who insisted on nursing your kids until they're six (an inaccurate characterization of the organization). He laughed that he was never invited back. At this point I began to suspect that his opposition to nursing was based more on his personal preferences than any medical information.
Note that none of his arguments against nursing had anything to do with teeth or oral health, and in one case contradicted ADA recommendations about oral health.
After saying several more times that we had discussed the matter with my daughter's doctor, and would take our recommendations on nursing from the doctor, I firmly interrupted his tirade. I said that we were there to have him look at my daughter's teeth, so could he please examine her for any tooth decay? I am capable of doing my own research on breastfeeding, and will ask my pediatrician if I have any questions.
He finally performed a perfunctory exam of my daughter's teeth and proclaimed her free from any decay.
Dr Williams concluded the appointment by comparing breastfeeding to giving my daughter "five cups of Mountain Dew" every night before bed. Never mind that we brush her teeth afterwards, and never mind that Mtn Dew and breast milk are nutritionally incomparable.
Then he had the nerve to include "nutritional counseling" as a line item on our bill.
In case you're curious, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization both recommend nursing until "at least" age 1, ideally age 2 "and beyond" (those phrases are quotes from their websites). The American Dental Association defers to these organizations in their guidelines, and recognizes the overall health benefits of nursing when paired with good oral hygiene such as brushing the teeth before bed.
