Dental Issues

Has anyone noticed they have huge Dental Issues since there surgery..  I went to the dentist Saturday and found I have huge problems..  I don't know if they are related to the metabolism changes and mineral  absorption but I don't recall having all the issues I have know.. but my teth appear to be breaking down. Just wondering if anyone woke up to this and was wondering the same thing.

I woke up to that fact to late. I had to have my bottoms pulled out recently. I I am waiting for the gums to heal then I will get a bottom plate. But I sure do miss the crunch of food. That is the reason for the previous post of juicing vegi's. I know we need vegi's in our diets too. I don't know if this is a problem w/ our wt loss surgery or not but I do know it affected my teeth. Brenda

I have definitely noticed this.  I wondered if anyone else had.  The last time I went to the dentist, he said I have some teeth that are just wearing away - crumbling.  I go at least twice a year and he said he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it before - that's how fast it seems to have happened.  He wants to cap them but if this continues throughout my mouth I won't be able to afford to have my whole mouth capped.   I was wondering if this could be related to our surgery.  My surgery was in December of 2005. 

My surgery was april 2005.. but I know I hadn't been to the dentist lately but the condition of my teeth was horrible and not because of neglect.. I brush and floss all the time.. Even the dentist commented it must be nutritional deficiencies.  I know my endocronogist keeps telling me my calcium and vit d are low..  but this was just unexpected.. to have the cavities and  beakages has come as quite a blow..  the Expense to repair is almost as much as the RNY... 

Everyone who's posted here, please tell me you are all NOW taking mega doses of calcuim citrate, as in 3-4000 and dry form D3, like 50,000?

PLEASE?!

I don't want to think that you guys are just the tip of the iceberg as another 1000 ppl a day are pos-ops being sent forth without adequate calcium and D info.

I take Tropical Oasis calcium citrate - two tablespoons a day - but don't know anything about dry form D3.  What is that?  I'm probably not taking enough calcium?????? Thanks. 

I'm beginning to think that "enough calcium" for us is an oxymoron!

Vit D...quick, where do you think you find it? Milk? It's added to milk to help the calcium absorb. You find it in oily fish and egg yolks, for some. But since we malabsorb fats/oils to a degree, where we lose it is vites A, D, E. And most of us weren't getting enough D or calcium ANYWAY, since we were lead to think dairy is the main source of it. It's not.

So, the body can only recognize D3 form of vit D. We can't use anything that arrives still in oil (no reliable absorption), so we must have dry. Sunlight has to convert to D3. Any food has to convert to D3. Any D supplement you take has to convert to D3. The rx form of vit D is D2, IN OIL.

We cannot convert any other D's to D3, because the converter is bypassed now. And in some ppl, it wasn't working in the first place. So, if we supplement D, it's got to be D3.

The amount you supplement isn't about how much is in this pill right here so much as how much is showing up on those labs right there. It's the score we're after, and we want the high score. Even a few weeks ago I was promoting middle-high, but more info has shown me the error of my ways and I'm shooting for a score of 100 myself now.

You guys who showed "a little low in D" are EXTREMLY low in D. The list of things D does gets longer every week. Besides bones, there's not just fibro myalgia, but is now considered helpful for the whole autoimmune family. Latest research is shown it to be in the same anti-oxidant family as the vites A, C, E, and especially fighting women's cancers.

And. Never mind, this last article was so fascinating I didn't even fini**** It was for normies, so recommended doses of 2000 to 10,000 units, but that would be IN ADDITION to eaten vit D, which again, is useless to us. So, we start our brand new proximals and bands on 10,000 units and really, it's not enough, amazingly.

Michelle, thank you for explaining the Vit. D absorption issues for us.  I am testing low in Vit. D right now, and I'm frustrated because I've consulted 2 doctors (regular, not bariatric, as my new insurance does NOT cover anything to do with WLS) and both doctors are not worried about my lab results.  They say EVERYONE tests low in Vit. D and they don't know why anyone bothers with that particular lab test.  I live in Oregon now, and wonder if people test low up here because of the rain/ less sunshine ? Anyways, I'm 1 1/2 years out and have maintained within 2 pounds of my goal for 9 months :) My labs have been good up until this last test (with the Vit. D).  I would like to raise this.  I have been religious about taking my vitamins every day.   I was taking the Citracal petites (pills) but I've switched to Citracal Creamy bites, thinking maybe they absorb better than the pills... I take 2 a day (1000 units total), so maybe I should start taking 3 a day?  I'm 39... I have to admit, after all your explanation of DRY VIT. D3,  I still am lost on how to get D3 into my system :)  Is there a specific D3 pill we can take?

N, your low D Is not because you are in OR. It's because you are a WLS person. Simple, huh? Chances are it started low but no one noticed or if they did, well, you see the result.

Docs will usually prescribe D2 in oil. Your D numbers might move 5-6 points, but if you need to move from say, 12 up to 84, neither sun nor rx will do.

GNC will not be able to provide high dose vit D3. And frankly, they may not know the difference between D2 and D3 or that is must be dry for us. And it's very likely the general docs don't either.

Citracal is a good product, but we want to take a LOT of it, and generally 2 = 630mg. The D IN IT is n/a, since it's so little. We're talking THOUSANDS of IU of D, not hundreds.

Personally I use capsules and UpCal D and a combo of the D3 5,000 & 50,000. I take the BA cinnamon calciums with a few apple slices for one of my scheduled snacks. I sorta lost track of how many mg I take, since I basically take as much as I can get into my face. The D, counting only the BIG does, I take 30,000 per day and two of the 50,000 per week to reach my last score of 70. I will get a new set next Monday (well, will take a week to GET the scores) and see if it went up or down.

The high dose D product is made by Biotech and is available through a few disributors in the US. As far as I know, most are cheaper than buying direct from Biotech.

Just so you know, vit D is a very small element (not like calcium, big ol' chunka chunkas!) so even the 50,000 is a teeny capsule you can swallow with spit!

My head runneth over with vit D info, but yes, everyone tests low in D (remember, we're taught to look at dairy as a source of D, not where it actually IS), and even a few years ago, 30 was considered "fine", then 50, and now levels around 100 are ideal. Personally I prefer ideal over "fine" any day, especially since I already paid the price in my bones (or should I refer to them as my crispy critters?) for what they didn't know YET?

Hey. I read your post about vitamin D and calcium intake. Hearing all those people talk about their teeth "crumbling" is terrifying to me. If you could, could you summarize which supplements you use for vitamin D, and calcium, and around how many mg's a day you take. I'm hoping to have WLS soon, and hearing about all these issues is pretty scary. I'm pretty young, and I want to be healthy and happy. THanks a bunch in advance.