How do folks with T1D deal with the constant need to avoid hypoglycemia by snacking through the night? Our 2-year-old has been slightly hypo several points in the night and we have had to feed him crackers, juice, glucose tabs, milk, etc. Thinking about all those carbs just sitting there in his mouth, waiting for bacteria to devour, makes me wonder if he’s going to get cavities or gingivitis. But brushing his teeth 5 times a night seems like a bad idea too, not to mention we’re all tired and cranky when we have to do this.
Long term we want to get him on a pump and stable over night, but even with that, he’s a toddler – his system is wildly erratic and I’m imagining he will have points when he needs to eat those fast-acting carbs at night.
Do folks have any quick tips for how to maintain oral health while snacking through the night? Some kind of gel you can rub on his teeth or a swish of water or something?
And have T1D folks found that their dental health suffers as a result of this particular thing?
What I do if I don’t feel like brushing my teeth again is to floss and rinse with dr. katz therabreath periodontal. Flossing and rinsing even with water is more important than brushing I think.
I’ve had T1 for 32 years, and I haven’t found my dental health to suffer any more during those years then beforehand. I have spent many a night with Skittles residue on my teeth. I do try to do a quick water rinse after chewing, but that’s about it because I’m not very with it in the middle of the night.
I was diagnosed 27 years ago, at the age of 11 months. My dental health has not seemed to suffer due to this (I had other problems, unrelated to the D). I would like to say that I always at least rinse with water after a night time hypo treat, but I don’t always. I also used to use sticky, gooey glucose gel without rinsing afterwards. It’s definitely something to think about, but not anything I would lose sleep over, imo.
Tap water with fluoride seems the simplest way to go. I’ve woken up low at 3am, swigged some orange juice and rinsed out with water for the exact reasons you stated.
