how many fillings if any do your children have?

[albosmum]

DS1 aged 10 is going to have his first filling Dentist blames his diet - which i think is vg. I blame his poor teeth cleaning technique.
Is it very unusual to have a filling at such a young age?

[WigWamBam]

Does your dentist have a hygienist who could have a look at your ds's teeth cleaning technique and give him some advice if it's poor?

[Posey]

Dd is 8 (yr 4) and doesn't have any but quite a lot of the kids in her class do. And they aren't all sweet-munchers, more apple eaters.

[LIZS]

ds is 7 1/2 and sadly needs one. Some of his friends have got several though.

[Lonelymum]

Mone of mine have any yet. The oldest is nine. I wouldn't have thought 10 was inordinately young to have a filling: I cetainly had one before then!

[albosmum]

I could ask about hygienist but dentist is adament it is his diet - does the dentist need to refer me to the hygienist?
Plus me or dh did not have fillings till 16ish

[Gobbledispook]

None, but eldest only 4.5

I've only got 1 and I'm 32. I'm not especially careful - it's genes I think.

[Lonelymum]

Do you have reason to believe it might be diet? Does he eat lots of sweeets or drink sugar filled drinks?

[FrightfullyPoshFloss]

My mum was very bullish about not having anything to drink other than milk/water when I was young and sweets were pretty much banned too. I'm nearly 25 now and don't have any, where as my mum (and dad IIRC) had loads and my grandparents both had false from their 50's onwards.

[albosmum]

chocolate on sat nights
no fizzy drinks
no bfast cereal (he eats toast and fruit)
no juice (he drinks milk or water)
for lunch he has marmite sandwiches, raisins, apple and water
evening meal - no processed food (sauces etc)and
He does eat yoghurts and loads of apples
(at xmas/bday and cinema he is allowed special treats)

I think this is a unusaully good diet for a 10 yr old

[Lonelymum]

Oh it doesn't sound like diet at all! Didn't the dentist ask you about his diet? If you had said that he would have known there was nothing wrong with that.

My children saw the dentist the other week and the two oldest had some plaque on their teeth and the dentist was quite helpful showing them where it was and where they needed to brush a bit more. I can't see why you need to make an appointment with a hygienist when the dentist can explain it so quickly.

[albosmum]

lonelymum i said no juice, sweets - he said bicuits i said no but he gave me the disbelieving patronising stare which i hate!

[albosmum]

feeling like a bad mum as no one else has fillings! - so must be doing something wrong

[Lonelymum]

No, some people just have stronger teeth. Don't beat yourslef up about it. My sister and I had a handful of filings each as children and my brother has never ever had one (now aged 44). We all had the same diet.

[Lonelymum]

filings??? obviously meant fillings!

[codface]

how odd



none

[codface]

i have two
havent had any since i was 8. i go to the dentist for an ego boost

[JanH]

There are MNers whose kids have fillings, am, don't beat yourself up, they're just not here atm.

It pees me off when dentists blame, unless it's a kid who takes a bottle of Ribena to bed and has blackened front teeth.

[WigWamBam]

I can only tell you what my dentist said, and I don't know whether he's right or not, but he told me that eating loads of apples can cause almost as many problems with the teeth as sweets can - the sugar in them is better for teeth than the sugar in sweets but it's still sugar, and they're also very acidic. It could be a combination of all the apples he's eating plus poor oral hygiene.

[albosmum]

thank you for all your responses

[vickiyumyum]

None yet, ds1 is 8 and ds2 is 3, but judging by the struggle that i have each morning and night to get them to brush their teeth it will only be a matter of time. and that saddens me as i'm 29 and have never had a filling or tooth pulled in my life!

[Mojomummy]

Hi Albosmum, a friend of mine is a dental surgeon. her recommendation is swilling the mouth out with water after meals.

Incidentally raisins are very sticky on the teeth & that, along with the acidic yogurt & acid apples plays havoc with the teeth - much in the same way as eating sweets would. A piece of cheese after the lunch would help to neutralise acid.

Try also to only eating at mealtimes - if he is constantly eating apples, he is constantly exposing his teeth to an acidic environment, which ultimately wears down tooth enamel.

Suggestion is the tablets which show the plaque on the teeth & THOROUGH teeth cleaning, closely monitored by mum/dad.
HTH.

[nooka]

My two haven't any filings yet, but they also haven't been to the dentist yet (5 and 6). I am very scared of dentists, and don't think it would help for me to take them as I turn into a jibbering wreck (pretty much literally). dh says he will take them (he's also a SAHD) but has never got around to it. However I think that genes/luck play a big part. As children my sister ate healthily and cleaned her teeth a lot and had lots of fillings. I avoided cleaning my teeth whenever possible, and ate whatever I felt like, including sweets and chocolate, and have two fillings. She didn't like me very much!

[codface]

and unitl recently mine hardly ever brushed thir tteth
think tis genetic

[LIZS]

Well we both have c**p teeth so am amazed ds has done this well. In Switzerland there isn't fluoride added to the water or indeed to many brands of kids toothpaste and some have blamed that for the decline in their kid's teeth.