Anyone's kids flare when losing teeth?

[Teri]

Does that sound crazy? Just thinking .... DD6 has been seemingly flaring since late December. She lost her first tooth on 1/2. We did a steroid taper the second half of January. She just lost her 2nd tooth this morning . She has been struggling again since the first week of February again with tics and new OCD behaviors. That is when the 2nd tooth really became loose.

Just makes me wonder ....

Had blood work done today so I guess we will find out something.

[beeskneesmommy]

Yes and yes! DS6 was flaring when his teeth came in (all 4 fronts...sadly, they came behind the babies and he is still waiting for the babies to fall out)! I asked in several forums, as my son is very well these days and the flares were frequent and unusual. i was told many times over that teeth coming in often and typically causes flares.

[philamom]

Yes, same here!

[thenmama]

Both of mine do/did and I remember a number of other parents had reported the same thing when I first noticed it with my oldest child.

[LNN]

For a long time, parents here have reported that teeth issues can trigger a flare. Perhaps because the mouth has so much bacteria and when a loose tooth breaks the gum open, it allows bacteria into the blood stream. For whatever reason, it's a common trigger for our kids. When my kids behaviors start to change and I know they have a loose tooth, I have them swish twice a day with Peridex - it's an antibacterial rinse we get from our dentist. He gives it to patients who've just had root canals and crowns. If you can't get that, listerine w/o alcohol can also help, as does motrin. You can also consider a zinc supplement or something like Zicam to help the immune system.

[lfran]

Don't know if this was DS' initial trigger, but this whole nonstop ticcing started about two weeks after he had two teeth extracted without prophylactic antibiotics -- and possibly with nitrous oxide. I know he had nitrous at least once from his dentist -- I *think* that was the time, but I can double check. I read that nitrous can be very dangerous to those with B12 deficiencies, and that having a MTHFR variation means that you should never have nitrous.

 

 

 

For a long time, parents here have reported that teeth issues can trigger a flare. Perhaps because the mouth has so much bacteria and when a loose tooth breaks the gum open, it allows bacteria into the blood stream. For whatever reason, it's a common trigger for our kids. When my kids behaviors start to change and I know they have a loose tooth, I have them swish twice a day with Peridex - it's an antibacterial rinse we get from our dentist. He gives it to patients who've just had root canals and crowns. If you can't get that, listerine w/o alcohol can also help, as does motrin. You can also consider a zinc supplement or something like Zicam to help the immune system.

[Zs_Dad]

I totally agree with LLM. Our DD7 with PANDAS has over the past 4 months had 4 teeth come out and new ones growing in. TICS had been under control for a while, but I feel like we have seen a bit of a resurgence. Certainly when teeth come in there are little micro breaks in the gum which can expose the blood stream and immune system to strep. I also wonder if the observation that tics tend to fall off after puberty coincides with when our permanent adult teeth are in. Just a thought.

[JPdad]

Funny, we are going through this right now. DS6 just lost a tooth tonight. He has been pushing at it constantly for the last 2 weeks and had some tics return last week. It's a guessing game to figure out what causes the tics sometime, but losing teeth does seem to coincide with tic increases.

[Sfmama2]

Yes each tooth is another mini flare for ds7

[MMC]

We had a really bad experience with DS about a year ago when he had two permanent teeth extracted up top to make room and prep for braces. He had nitrous that time as well. It hit him hard that evening with uncontrollable tics. Missed school the next day. He previously had nitrous several times before, so it must have been the teeth extraction or a combination. He does have one MTHFR gene mutation, so we are leary of nitrous now. He was even on Augmentin at the time, but whatever got in his system, he couldn't handle it. It was bad. We never noticed a flair with losing baby teeth, but he was 10 when PANDAS started, so a lot of teeth were lost by then.

 

And recently, I posted about his difficult time with braces...he kept them for only a week, had to get them removed because he couldn't tolerate the inflammation. It caused an increase in tics, with the worse being a bad mouth tic where he bit his cheek constantly causing an ulcer. He could barely eat or drink. Off came the braces...he can get them again when he is an adult as far as I am concerned...hoping by then, PANDAS symptoms will have resolved.

[pandakid11]

Hi

I believe Streptococcus mutans is released when a new tooth comes in. Thus, strep titers rise, thus pandas increases.

[airial95]

My daughter lost 4 teeth in 3 weeks in November and we had a rough time of it. We had her in weekly for strep tests b/c we were sure she had to have strep - it wasn't until the 3rd tooth fell out that I remembered what many others here have reported. When I asked our doc if it was a possibility - he said absolutely. There's lots of bacteria in the mouth (including strep) and when a tooth falls out/break through it can get into the bloodstream and cause a reaction. He gave us a couple of weeks of abx to help us through the last loose one falling out.

 

She started having a rough time over the weekend and the first thing I did was check her teeth!! (Poor thing - all 4 of her front teeth (2 top/2 bottom) fell out and no sign of the new ones!)

[JPdad]

Hi

I believe Streptococcus mutans is released when a new tooth comes in. Thus, strep titers rise, thus pandas increases.

 

 

On a related note, I just read an article about a new "Smart Bomb" mouthwash that kills Strep. mutans and is supposed to prevent cavities. I think this would be a very beneficial thing for PANDAS kids. Now, if I only knew where to buy it.

 

Smart Bomb mouthwash kills streptococcus mutans

Wenyuan Shi, chair of the oral biology section of the UCLA School of Dentistry, has developed a "smart bomb" mouthwash that targets S. mutans, the bad strain of bacteria responsible for tooth decay, according to CBS Los Angeles.

 

Researchers tested the formula on 12 participants and found those who rinsed with the mouthwash were free of the S. mutans strain for about four days after the treatment.

[nicklemama]

Yes! Since having him on treatment dose abx, we don't see it anymore. (Knock on wood)

[dcmom]

YES! My dd flared with every lost tooth- luckily I think we are done with baby teeth.

 

We noticed a resurfacing of pandas symptoms a few days to a week prior to finding out her tooth was loose. We started giving (or increasing) antibiotics and dosing with motrin (3x day) for about 5 to 7 days at the first sign of trouble (I usually actually wait 12 to 24 hours to really confirm is is a flare). Most of the times, the symptoms would mostly resolve within a day or two of the tooth coming out. All together, maybe 1 to 2 weeks of some symptoms.

 

My older pandas dd did get braces this year, she is 12. I was a nervous wreck. But- so far no issues (she has had them since October).