cavities | Imamother

cdawnr

Wed, Jun 18 2008, 9:54 am

My 2.5 yr old has 3 cavities! Whatever the reason (we never let her consistantly sleep with a bottle, maybe a handful of times here or there), the dentist is scheduling her for fillings.

Has anyone else had a little little kid get fillings. How did they do? He said the choice was either in his office with a local anesthetic or in the hospitla with a general! We prefer the local idea then putting a kid under, but how is she going to keep her mouth open????

cdawnr

Wed, Jun 18 2008, 12:23 pm

WOW thanks

because part of me was thinking what's the big deal, they are only baby teeth!

Now I have to figure out timing. I was going to have dh take her as I have taken a lot of time off work for apts like this, but it osunds like she may need me. (She tends to want me when "suffering") and anything to minimize the hysterics.

Helani

Wed, Jun 18 2008, 2:01 pm

Laughing gas is nitrous oxide. It makes the child more relaxed, kind of dazed, but still awake. It only works if the child is not fearful. If the child is fearful to start with it's not going to prevent problems. It was definitely working well on my dd until they started doing the actual drilling and she didn't like the sensation. They might still need to restrain, even with nitrous oxide, but it should make the experience better. At least she didn't even notice when they gave her the shot. Make sure the dentist is experienced and works fast, it makes a difference.

cdawnr

Wed, Jun 18 2008, 2:23 pm

yo'ma wrote:

I know most of it has to do with the genes, but do you brush your dd's teeth?

To be honest we had supervised brishing more than parental brushing. But the dentist told us to be more active in the brushing when I took ds a few months ago and we have tried. dd is VERY strong willed, so we don't always get to. But now that I know she is so prone, I will be more meticulous with her...and so with him...and so with the baby. I guess I should starton her even though she only has 3 teeth...she did try and grab her sister's toothbrush yesterday Smile

SingALong

Wed, Jun 18 2008, 9:15 pm

my DD now age 4 had major cavities last year. her 4 front teeth and two in the back. one was so bad that the nerve needed to be treated, that's how bad it was. there was no way she was going to sit there throughout a 2 hour procedure. so the dentist needed to sedate her witha drink and he used laughing gas. we didnt give her anything to eat or drink from teh night before.
she also needed to wear a straitjacket. after the first bout of crying so hard she just slept through the whole thing which is what the dentist was hoping.
I took her now again and she had another small minor cavity. it was so small that we just held her down while the dentist cleaned and filled it. the whole deal was ten minutes. (she screamed the whole time)

ShiningThrough

Thu, Jun 19 2008, 5:08 am

Oy, Flowerpower! Poor kid, poor mom!

My mom was a dental hygienist so I grew up with really good dental habits, which I've forced Twisted Evil

on my kids. And I'm not proud of the tactic, but I really did use to force brushing if there was no willing cooperation. (Lying down on the bathroom counter and gently brushing their little teeth while firmly holding them down... sounds harsh but I was not going to give in... healthy teeth are important to me.) I let them take over their own teeth-brushing when they turned 6 or 7, somewhere around there. I still help floss their teeth often at night, especially after they've eaten meat, chicken, corn, peaches, etc.

Being cavity-prone is largely hereditary, but here are some prevention ideas:
*Juice bottles or even breastmilk can cause cavities, so try making a rule of ONLY WATER after her teeth are brushed at night.
*Try making a brushing chart and let her pick and stick a pretty sticker when you finish brushing her teeth.
*Encourage her to rinse her mouth out with water after every meal. Let her do her own brushing after breakfast with her own toothbrush that she chooses (different from the one you use for her at night- she'll probably bite hers).
*Try to get her involved and interested in healthy teeth. There are probably some good kids books out there on healthy teeth and going to the dentist.

And regarding fillings, try giving Rescue Remedy to chill her out before/during/after the dental work. Before you agree to general anesthesia I suggest that you at least try 1 filling with laughing gas to see how she'll handle it. One of my kids fell asleep during fillings, another cried the whole time. You might try to find a reputable children's dentist... we used one that was so great, she told my son a story the whole time in a really soothing, hypnotic voice.

Good luck!

ShiningThrough

Mon, Jul 07 2008, 4:54 pm

Yup, sorry to say. I think a lot has to do with heredity (dh has a lot of dental problems). But I think it's important to do what we can to have as healthy teeth as possible.

(and I'm really glad I'm passed the forceful phase... I had a lot of doubts about brushing that way because it felt so controlling... B"H now my oldest dd has developed her own really good dental habits- with no nudging from Mommy!)

cdawnr

Tue, Jul 08 2008, 11:21 am

Well she just had her first fillings.

Dentist got in close this time and immeditely announced that she has defective enamal. We have to have more fillings next month.

She did ok. No laughing gas or anything and she was fine for the first half but I think having her mouth open so long and people hovering made her a bit upset and she started to cry and then fight. It was tough but the dentist says he's had tougher.