Teeth going bad fast aftr WLS

Ok......here it goes. My tooth on the top near the back molar broke off completely to gum level Fri day afternoon at 3 pm, of coarse. Is there any correlation of WLS to having teeth break....teeth decay and general things going bad in your mouth--post-op. My teeth have been in the best of shape until WLS 18 months ago. I did have blood sugars in the 300's before surgery...was on meds...but they did not work well. I wonder if diabetis and WLS combination is making my mouth go south. It could be my age, too....i am 55 years. LOL I take 1600 mg of calicum citrate daily. Sandy in Tucson Please I need some replies.

I think there is a correlation as I have heard many people complain about teeth issues. I had a cavity within my first 3 months post -op and have not had one since I add quite a bit of Magnesium Citrate to my daily supplement list. I "think" that enough extra calcium (I take 2300 mg calcium (as calcium citrate) daily) along with extra magnesium citrate and D are why I have not had any further issues. Not to say that I won't have any, but they are not rapidly falling apart on me. I, personally, take 800-1200 mg of magnesium citrate (from Solgar and I grind my tablets up for better absorption) - I tolerate this amount without diarrhea and it helps alleviate any big C problems too. I also take 400 mg magnesium citrate from Vitalady (capsule form) and have found that extra amounts of it do not affect my bowels at all (thus why I continue to grind the Solgar tablets). There is other magnesium in my calcium supplements as well. I had a problem at about 3 months post-op with a magnesium deficiency catching up with me and causing all sorts of havoc in my life. FYI magnesium is safe to take as long as you do not have kidney disease. Sandy in Higley

Sandy, Sorry to hear about the tooth problem. If you had a tooth that broke off at gum level, sounds like a nutrition problem, doesn't it. Sorry, I don't know anything about diabetes. The other factor with teeth is vomiting even 3-5 times a week, but it seems like that would show itself on the surface of the teeth first. I wonder if something like baking soda in the mouth before vomiting would help? (not sure if this applies to your situation). Best of Luck Dave

I have only vomited 2 times total since surgery. Vomiting has never been an issue since WLS. My labs are good except my iron and I take ferrous gluconate 324 mg Rx for that situation. I just saw Dr. Fang 2 months ago for my labs and iron level. Everything was good then. I will make an appt with PCP and have blood work again.....I take my vitamins and supplements faithfully. I drink Unjury protein 70 mg or more per day. I eat only healthy foods. Maybe it is just old teeth or that darn diabetis you never get rid of...just keeping it in control with exercise and meds and WLS surgery helped alot. Sandy in Tucson

Sandy - I forgot to mention that I am also a diabetic (in remission). Not the high sugars that you had though. I was on medication as a pre-op, not insulin. But, certainly not the greatest teeth from family genetics. Sandy in Higley

When I went to buy Isopure at Hi-Health, the lady told me that I should brush or rinse my teeth as soon as I can after drinking it. She said a new study just came out that whatever it is in protein drinks ( sorry...I can't remember what she said) can cause tooth decay. No one had ever told me that before and I had bought Isopure at several different places, so I didn't know what to think about it. But now after hearing this, I think I will be more diligent about how often I brush my teeth and/or rinse my mouth.

Omg...I drank Isopure....almost exclusively my 1st 6 months out. Oh, boy. Nice. I am thrilled. I need to brush more often I guess. I drink 4 protein drinks per day even now 18 months out. Sandy

Sandy, Have you had a bone density test done since wls? That might be an indicator of what might be going on with you calcium-wise, just in case there is a correlation with the calcium malabsorption and your teeth. I have a kidney disease and have a tough time with calcium so my doctor precribes a bone density test on a very frequent basis. I have a friend who had wls almost 3 years ago and she is having a lot of teeth issues right now. She's not sure if it's genetics, wls related or just age. Connie

Hi Sandy, I am an oldtimer in wls and will be 20 years postop next month. I have had absorption probs of all kinds of stuff in my long postop years from a very outdated surgery bilio pancreatic bypass. I have had calcium absorption problems from the very beginning and found after conferring with a couple of different doctors that I was not absorbing enough of the regular vitamin D I had been taking and they gave me a RX for Rocaltrol which is a synthetic vitamin D and seems to help the absorption. I take 1600 mg of magnesium citrate and currently taking 3600mg of calcium citrate. With all of this I barely make it into the normal range on my calcium check in my blood tests. Oh I am taking .5mg of the rocaltrol twice a day and there is a generic for the rocaltrol too which helps on the cost. I have a good amount of anemia from my wls which is not iron as my ferritin level is normal. I do take some prescription iron though all these years. I am on PROCRIT injections about every 4 weeks because of the anemia which kept my RBC, hematocrit and hemaglobin below normal before I started the PROCRIT 3 years ago. I am sure our teeth get damaged after WLS as well. I will be 68 years old in August so it is no fun getting dental problems as we get older especially since my dental insurance ceased when I turned 65. Guess the employers figure by the time we are 65 all our teeth have fallen out already and we don't need any insurance LOL. Good luck to you. huggsssssssss Mike

I have been told to get a bone density test and that my help in giving u some answers. Also my teeth were perfectly straight prior to surgery and they r not any more! When taking my children into the ortho I learned that since ur bone structure is actually changing that can include the structure of ur mouth and teeth. Well at this pt i am not majorly concerned about my teeth i think i am the only one noticing it. But just wanted u to know u are not alone!