Options for 4.5 yo with cavities

[Soror]

Please help me think this through. My 4.5 yo has some cavities, 2 spots between upper and lower molars and some spots between the front teeth. Unfortunately this is my drama queen child. My 7yo who doesn't feel pain and never whines has perfect teeth. But this is a sensitive child. We do not have a ped dentist locally although I know some drive to one about 1.5 hrs away. I've heard mixed results though. My friend said her son came out and had been crying the whole time but parents aren't allowed back so she didn't know.

 

She takes her children locally now with nitrous and shots. I've also heard I can take her to the oral surgeon to be completely put out but I am leery of that as well and would like to avoid it. I don't however want her to freak out and as it is her molars I feel the need to take care of it.

 

I guess I'm wondering if others have done anything else other than the options mentioned OR if you had work done with nitrous and shots and how it went. I am particularly interested in those with sensitive children and how it went. I want to get it done as easily as possible with the least trauma for everyone!!!

 

Also, does anyone have experience with using composite instead of amalgram? I know that the dentists say the amalgram holds better and prefer to use it but because of mercury issues I'd like to avoid it. Of course I've read that composites have BPA, so neither is optimal. I've also read before on healing cavities but I don't buy whole hog into the idea. We generally keep a diet close the the one recommended as it is and have always taken CLO, I added in cell salts and extra liquid D3 but due to the location and the fact that molars fall out much later other primary teeth I do not feel comfortable waiting.

 

Many thanks in advance ! I have no experience with this as I said ds has perfect teeth so we haven't had to do anything like this and I'm slightly terrified.

[sunriseiz]

So sorry you are dealing with this. :( We were in a similar situation a couple of years ago with DS at 4yo (also sensitive). We ended up at a ped dentist. They used nitrous, but I don't remember about shots. They were really good with him. They had blankets for the kids and parents were allowed back. DS was 'good' for ~45 min if I remember correctly. He ultimate need 3 metal crowns on molars and had composite on his front teeth (just fyi, i felt like a awful mother for a long time). It took 3 visits I think.

 

I would probably talk to anyone local you can about how their kids did with various dentists, but at the same time I wouldn't put it off too long. Once again, I'm sorry for you and your little one.

[celticmom]

My dd7 is sensitive. She would not let the dentist examine her teeth until recently. When she had the first exam she needed a good bit of work. It was all done with me present and shots and nitrous oxide.

 

The most traumatic part in her case was having an impression made. She had two teeth pulled, three if you count a loose front tooth with the permanent tooth coming up behind it. She also had two cavities filled. Neither of those upset her. Being separated from me would have upset her big time. I would have the work done locally if I were you.

 

Also dd's fillings are composite not amalagam. The dentists I spoke with never even mentioned amalagam as an option. Maybe this is a regional difference.

[TexasRachel]

We went through this earlier this year with DS4. He ended up needing 4 metal crowns. The pediatric dentists we went to did shots or liquids. DS had a dentist that did liquid. He ended up snoring the whole time. :D they had a little chair in the corner for me. I don't like the idea of not letting parents in especially for long procedures. My dentist wouldn't touch him because of his age.

[lexi]

I would never go anywhere that parents weren't allowed to go back with the child choir kiddo is young and will want you close!! We had a dentist tell us that but I went back anyway. There were other kids screaming and crying for more than 30 minutes. No parent was with them and no one comforted them. I was shocked! We never went back.

Sorry for your little one. I can understand how you would feel stressed.

[TracyR]

I would go with a ped dentist. use nitrous oxide and use composite. I have a couple of composite fillings that so far have lasted 8yrs and counting. As far as I know composite fillings are a combination of glass and porcelain in a plastic mix, and are MUCH, MUCH safer than mercury analgams.

There is Diamond Lite or Diamond Crown. I would request that. So far in the 'natural' community its considered to be the best that we have to date for composite fillings.

Not saying its completely safe. I don't think that the dental community has made it that far but its wayyyy better than Mercury fillings.

http://curezone.com/forums/am.asp?i=897829

 

I would also not ever go to a dentists office without me being present. I know some doctors feel that parents fear may ward off onto their child but I think not having the parent there is not wise either.

[Laurie]

My dd has autism (she's sensitive!), and she has needed quite a bit of dental work over the years which began when she was younger than your dd. We go to a pediatric dentist who has been able to do everything with nitrous and novacaine. Usually the nitrous mask goes over my dd's nose just in the beginning to relax her before the novacaine injection. Our dentist and her assistants are wonderful at talking to her calmly and explaining what they're doing/what they're putting in her mouth, and while it obviously isn't my dd's favorite outing it also hasn't been traumatizing for her. (I've sat in the treatment room or peeked in to see how she's doing.) The hardest part for her seems to be the "tooth pillow" that they use to keep her mouth open...it's a small thing in her mouth but it still annoys her but not to the point of screaming/crying. Our dentist will do more than one cavity at a visit but only if they're on the same side...she won't have both sides numbed up because there's too much risk that children will bite themselves later before the numbness is gone.

I think that one of the benefits of going to a pediatric dentist is that they may have the special things, like candy or fruit-scented nose masks to lessen the regular smell of the nitrous gas, that might help make the procedure a bit easier on the child. The long trip you'd have to make to see a ped. dentist would be hard so if you know that there's a general dentist nearby who has a good "chairside" manner with fearful kids then I would probably start with him/her.

Good luck! :grouphug:

Edited December 27, 2011 by Laurie

[Soror]

Thanks for the thoughts and hugs! I did feel horrible at first but now I just want it done. My dentist did ask me if I let her eat a lot of sugar, no she has the same diet as ds who has perfect teeth. I know I haven't been as diligent as I should have been with flossing though(although I am super strict about brushing in frequency and duration), all her spots are between teeth. Regardless, we keep a better diet (grassfed meat, all homemade food, yada, yada) than most anyone I know and it seems to be fairly common.

 

I talked to my sil who uses a local dentist that is known to be good with kids and she does the nitrous as well. I'm still awaiting word on the dentist my friend used locally. When we seen our dentist he didn't mention crowns so I'm hoping that they are not needed. That of course would make it much easier. It is good to hear as well that perhaps she could get both the molars taken care of at the same time since it is on the same side. It is great to hear *success* stories. I just want it done with now but of course I'm super nervous about the consultation and what she is going to say is needed vs. what our dentist has said.

[AK_Mom4]

DD10 had to have a couple of cavities filled when she was younger. Our family dentist used nitrous gas and she sat thru the process happily with no problem.

 

This is my daughter with severe doctor-fear issues due to having tons of medical procedures when little. I always have the option of going back with her, though the last few times she has been fine with me sitting in the waiting room because she trusts the dentist not to hurt her.

[Laurie]

Thanks for the thoughts and hugs! I did feel horrible at first but now I just want it done. My dentist did ask me if I let her eat a lot of sugar, no she has the same diet as ds who has perfect teeth. I know I haven't been as diligent as I should have been with flossing though(although I am super strict about brushing in frequency and duration), all her spots are between teeth. Regardless, we keep a better diet (grassfed meat, all homemade food, yada, yada) than most anyone I know and it seems to be fairly common.

.

 

I also have a son with perfect teeth.

With my dd, the dentist told me a long time ago that she had poorly formed tooth enamel...a birth defect. My dd has also had G.I. problems for many years, has tested "negative" on the blood tests for celiac, but has had tremendous improvement since going gluten free several months ago. I've been reading a lot about celiac disease and gluten intolerance, and apparently dental enamel problems can be traced to gluten issues for some people.

Just thought I'd mention this, just in case...

[myfatherslily]

Please help me think this through. My 4.5 yo has some cavities, 2 spots between upper and lower molars and some spots between the front teeth. Unfortunately this is my drama queen child. My 7yo who doesn't feel pain and never whines has perfect teeth. But this is a sensitive child. We do not have a ped dentist locally although I know some drive to one about 1.5 hrs away. I've heard mixed results though. My friend said her son came out and had been crying the whole time but parents aren't allowed back so she didn't know.

 

She takes her children locally now with nitrous and shots. I've also heard I can take her to the oral surgeon to be completely put out but I am leery of that as well and would like to avoid it. I don't however want her to freak out and as it is her molars I feel the need to take care of it.

 

I guess I'm wondering if others have done anything else other than the options mentioned OR if you had work done with nitrous and shots and how it went. I am particularly interested in those with sensitive children and how it went. I want to get it done as easily as possible with the least trauma for everyone!!!

 

Also, does anyone have experience with using composite instead of amalgram? I know that the dentists say the amalgram holds better and prefer to use it but because of mercury issues I'd like to avoid it. Of course I've read that composites have BPA, so neither is optimal. I've also read before on healing cavities but I don't buy whole hog into the idea. We generally keep a diet close the the one recommended as it is and have always taken CLO, I added in cell salts and extra liquid D3 but due to the location and the fact that molars fall out much later other primary teeth I do not feel comfortable waiting.

 

Many thanks in advance ! I have no experience with this as I said ds has perfect teeth so we haven't had to do anything like this and I'm slightly terrified.

 

My son will be 4 in a couple months. He's not sensitive for pain, but he does have real highs and lows emotionally! He had a cavity in a molar and between the two front teeth. Our regular dentist said we needed all of them filled. The ped. dentist felt that if we were very vigilant, we could hopefully keep the front cavities from getting worse. He was able to fill the back molar with nitrous oxide and no numbing. Thankfully, DS did spectacularly well that morning!

 

Now, DD had some fillings in January (at age 6.5). SHE is the sensitive one. She needed lots of numbing, as one of her cavities was pretty big (it formed in a permanent molar before the tooth was even all the way through the skin. Her gums were trapping everything against the chewing surface!). She had nitrous oxide, too. She was very scared, but stayed still. She was shaking the whole time, she said. Poor thing. I had to tell her many times that she WAS very brave, but she did what needed to be done even though she was scared!

 

Realizing that all kids are different, I do feel that there can be an advantage to parents not being there, assuming the dental/medical team is really good with kids. Children look to their parents for comfort, but they also look to them to "rescue" them from fearful things. Sometimes (again, I know this is not the same for all children) when mama isn't around, children are able to make themselves be brave in a way that they don't when mama IS there. I'm just saying that in my experience as both child and parent, it's not always a bad thing for parents to not be around.

 

I hope you can find a good solution where your child can be relatively comfortable. I know it's hard!

[Soror]

I also have a son with perfect teeth.

With my dd, the dentist told me a long time ago that she had poorly formed tooth enamel...a birth defect. My dd has also had G.I. problems for many years, has tested "negative" on the blood tests for celiac, but has had tremendous improvement since going gluten free several months ago. I've been reading a lot about celiac disease and gluten intolerance, and apparently dental enamel problems can be traced to gluten issues for some people.

Just thought I'd mention this, just in case...

 

Ha, irony here. We are a Celiac family. I know it is an issue for ds and I but not sure about dd. She's never really ate gluten as we went gluten free 3.5 yrs ago and she wasn't really eating much but breast milk then. I think part of the problem for her was the state of my gut during pregnancy. I ate a pretty much perfect diet BUT at that point was not 100% gluten free- I was grain/sugar free so I didn't get much gluten but some. I had went on a strict healing diet for awhile but didn't follow it 100% during pregnancy. Anyway, so my gut wasn't good. With ds he was the first and the Celiac's wasn't really triggered until at the end of pregnancy and afterward(as often happens with pregnancy). Anyway, we are a gluten, dairy, soy free house(although we've been trialing some raw dairy homemade yogurt as of late). DD2 was conceived 9 months after a strict df/gf/sf grain free diet and also has beautiful teeth with nice spacing.

 

So, I think her teeth likely started out not as good due to less nutrition from me which also contributed to her tight spacing- of course excarbated by my less than diligent flossing. I am noticing some improvment in spacing since adding the supplemental D3 as well. I think she just needs more than she was getting in the CLO. Regardless of it all I cannot change the past now. I do appreciate the thought about Celiac- I'd probably suggest the same to others :)

[Soror]

My son will be 4 in a couple months. He's not sensitive for pain, but he does have real highs and lows emotionally! He had a cavity in a molar and between the two front teeth. Our regular dentist said we needed all of them filled. The ped. dentist felt that if we were very vigilant, we could hopefully keep the front cavities from getting worse. He was able to fill the back molar with nitrous oxide and no numbing. Thankfully, DS did spectacularly well that morning!

 

Now, DD had some fillings in January (at age 6.5). SHE is the sensitive one. She needed lots of numbing, as one of her cavities was pretty big (it formed in a permanent molar before the tooth was even all the way through the skin. Her gums were trapping everything against the chewing surface!). She had nitrous oxide, too. She was very scared, but stayed still. She was shaking the whole time, she said. Poor thing. I had to tell her many times that she WAS very brave, but she did what needed to be done even though she was scared!

 

Realizing that all kids are different, I do feel that there can be an advantage to parents not being there, assuming the dental/medical team is really good with kids. Children look to their parents for comfort, but they also look to them to "rescue" them from fearful things. Sometimes (again, I know this is not the same for all children) when mama isn't around, children are able to make themselves be brave in a way that they don't when mama IS there. I'm just saying that in my experience as both child and parent, it's not always a bad thing for parents to not be around.

 

I hope you can find a good solution where your child can be relatively comfortable. I know it's hard!

 

I'm trying to decide if being there would make it worse or not - I'm thinking it might be ideal for dh to be there but he thinks we should ask her. I just want the option and don't want her crying the whole time!!!!

 

I'm leaning towards leaving the front ones alone. The spots on those have been there a long while and haven't gotten worse thus far. The spot on the molars just popped up though and due to the location I am not comfortable just leaving it.

[laundrycrisis]

Unfortunately I have extensive experience with young kids and dental work. White fillings, with nitrous and novacaine. I would not take a child to any dentist, ped or not, who refuses to let a parent remain with the child. To me that is a huge red flag. A dentist who is patient is all that is needed for a 7 yo. Does not need to be a ped dentist. I would not have this done under general or twilight anesthesia (versed). Our ped dentist thinks versed is dangerous enough that he will not use it in his practice - he only uses anything stronger than nitrous in a setting with an anesthesiologist, constant vitals monitoring, and a crash team available.

 

Back to edit - not sure why I thought 7 yo ? But 4.5 yo is old enough for adult dentist who is patient and calm, if no ped dentist can be found or ped dentist won't allow parent. Allowing parent is crucial.

Edited December 27, 2011 by laundrycrisis

[myfatherslily]

I'm trying to decide if being there would make it worse or not - I'm thinking it might be ideal for dh to be there but he thinks we should ask her. I just want the option and don't want her crying the whole time!!!!

 

I'm leaning towards leaving the front ones alone. The spots on those have been there a long while and haven't gotten worse thus far. The spot on the molars just popped up though and due to the location I am not comfortable just leaving it.

 

Oh yes, we did that for DD when she had a regular dental visit before the fillings. She got really nervous for some reason, so we had her go with her dad the next time and she was fine! Sadly, I do not inspire bravery in my children! I'm too much of a scaredy-cat myself :tongue_smilie: