Lots of cavities and losing teeth

im 2 1/2 years post op! The past year I've had a problem wit dry mouth,lots of cavities and have had 3 teeth pulled. :(

Today my dentist told me it was related tipo having gastric bypass. My teeth aren't getting enough nutrients.

has anyone else have had these problems?

Are you taking enough calcium and is it the right kind?  We absorb calcium citrate better than calcium carbonate.  Sometimes adding magnesium helps with the absorption of calcium.  Having low vitamin D will make it hard to absorb calcium too.  It may be time to have your labs done to see if you are deficient.

Nutritional deficiencies mainly cause problem with the tissues in the mouth not the actual tooth unless these deficiencies happened early in life when the teeth were forming.  Dry mouth is a side effect of a lot of medication and can lead to caries.  Are you using any products to alleviate the dry mouth? Biotene or Oasis products?  Try to use an alcohol-free mouthwash.  Try chewing on sugar-free gum or candy with Xylitol when your mouth feels dry.  Xylitol is great product in preventing caries.

http://www.cda.org/Portals/0/pdfs/fact_sheets/xylitol_englis h.pdf

Your homecare is really important, brushing and flossing daily. Hope this helps. Best of Luck

Are you taking calcium citrate?  How much?  What's your vitamin D level?  How much D3 do you take?

Thank-You for responding to my post. I'm taking 3000 Iu of Calcium Citrate 3 X a day. They have 700 u of vitamin D in them. I also take 5000 U of vitamin D once a week. I made the mistake of stopping taking my vitamins for several months because they made me nauseous. My surgeon told me to take them with my meals. That ones seem to help. The dentist didn't tell me until yesterday that my dental problems were due to my gastric bypass. They told me it was due to one of the mess I'm taking.  

A lot of medications have dry mouth as a side effect.  As the O/P pointed out, dry mouth absolutely can lead to tooth decay issues.  Your dentist saying that your poor dental health is caused by your WLS is a little off base in my opinion.  

Not every health inssue we have after WLS is related to WLS.  If you were taking meds prior to WLS that contribute to dry mouth (and many meds do), then the foundation for this was laid long before WLS.  The O/P had really good ideas on what you can do to help the situation.  I hope they work for you! 

TY. I've been taking the same meds for years. Before WLS I had dry mouth occasionally. Never serious enough to cause dental problems. I hope upping the usage of Biotene and my calcium will help.

I would get a DEXA scan as soon as possible, to check your bone density. And  PTH, vitamin D, K, etc lab tests. These will help you figure out if your tooth issues are related to calcium and other vitamins.

KAREN--I had similar problems. My bone scans and labs were "excellent". My early upbringing had a lot to do with the way my "inner dental" formed (lack of fluoride in water, etc)...Despite labs, vitamins, etc, my teeth just couldn't keep up. 12 years post op, I finally had the last ones extracted and got full replacements--best choice for me...I don't "blame" my WLS--but is was certainly a contributing factor...but I couldn't/wouldn't change a thing

I`m 4+ years past gastric bypass surgery, and I certainly have had problems with teeth decay too.  I have always had a lot of issues because of lack of fluoride in drinking water, a preference for sweets and acidic (lemon flavor), medicines that caused dry mouth.  It's hard to blame too much on the WLS, but I have seen a bit of an increase in cavities in areas in the front of the mouth that hadn`t been vulnerable before.  I would say, don`t skip your 6 month check-ups if you`ve had WLS.