DD aged 10 needs root canal

Are you sure she's brushing her teeth properly?

It's unlikely that a few fizzy drinks/ sweets in a week is the actual cause of this.

She probably needs some help with her toothbrushing technique.

Depends which one
sport doesn’t. Original is equivalent to caffeine in a mug of tea, it’s nothing like say monster or red bull levels

Full of caffeine as well as sugar. Caffeine/energy drinks are not recommended for children.

Speak to your DH.

If it's a permanent tooth then you need to preserve it at all costs, which means root canal. If it's a milk tooth, just extract. Never extract adult teeth because it feels like the "easier" option. She will need to get implants at some point which is an extremely unfair additional life expense assuming she has to pay for it herself.

Also don't listen to the fearmongers about the treatment! I've had 2 molar root canals and it's exactly the same as a filling, just longer and more boring. Get her headphones with some music or an audiobook. You might need a second sitting to get a crown but it really isn't a bit deal.

What's done is done so no point getting angry at your MIL. Fwiw, sugary treats and sweets are only bad if you don't have good oral hygiene. None of that should make a difference if the child is brushing well and flossing at least 1-2x a day.

Every time I told MIL not to she would scream in my face and start crying (Mil not dd!)

If she really is this hinged, why would you be sending your child there? 🙄 You need a back bone. This is all on you.

+1^

She needs to have a sugar window where she can eat sweets etc but only for half an hour every day or every few days. I ended up with a sugar window of a couple hours once a week as a kid. As my mum kept giving me orange juice thinking it was healthy so my baby teeth were quite bad.

If she gets root canal the tooth needs to kept extra carefully clean. She should be using electric brush, brush tongue, floss, tp if gaps are bigger for at least 5 mins each time. Doing every single tooth.

Not a dentist, but they don't even get their adult molars until between 8 and 11 years old, so she can't have had this tooth very long I dint think, fir it to get damaged enough to need a root canal. Surely any damage would have been picked up at her 6 monthly check ups and could have been resolved with a filling?

@Alpacajigsaw but a fizzy drink twice a week shouldn’t be an issue with good oral hygiene and regular check ups, unless there is an underlying condition. Kids get a check up every 6 months or so, so how did a cavity that big develop after 10 years of no issues?

Do you brush her teeth for her? I image that’s the real cause.

People who want to keep their teeth.

And fizzy drinks are the worst. My own dentist told me he let his kids have everything except fizzy drinks. Mine never had them that was my red line even though I wasn’t particularly strict compared to a lot of parents. A 10 year old has no need for fizzy drinks. Even at 17 and 20 mine would now only have them rarely, their choice as obviously I can’t control them now

Dentist here, if she has 8s she’d be better off having it out - poor prognosis 6s.
Even if she doesn’t have an 8 I’d argue against RCT in a 6 in a 10 year old..

You aren’t taking any responsibility for this situation and blaming the MIL and yet she is mainly in your care. The fact that you state she saw your DD every day in the first five years of life is irrelevant because they would have affected her baby teeth?

I doubt eating sweets twice a week would have caused this much damage because you say you enforce good oral hygiene. It’s time to take a look in the mirror!

I’d be stopping her seeing the MIL and wouldn’t give a fuck about what ructions it caused. Absolutely fucking appalling woman.

Ok, you do realise sugar isn't the direct cause of cavities, rather it feeds the bacteria that cause it (in particular streptococcus mutans and lactobabacillus), so people who are normally more susceptible to being the carriers of these are more likely to have cavities? Yes, tooth brushing, fluoride toothpastes and keeping oral ph high enough to reduce those bacteria helps - as does avoiding CONSTANT snacking on sugar, but exposure to sugar twice a week at age 5 would not directly lead to cavities. Mumsnet loves to have vapours over it. In this instance, yes, she has a cavity. Yes, she needs to have it treated. But it doesn't mean you're a parental failure because of it nor that you should report MIL to the SS.

As a dental nurse of 20 years I've never seen a child needing root canal. The need for this means there is a huge deep cavity affecting the nerve of the tooth. Be prepared its a very long procedure with injections for numbing, and the treatment may fail in a short period or may last years. I wouldn't opt for an extraction as that's her whole adult life spent with a missing tooth which will also affect the teeth surrounding it and them moving. If it were my child she would never be left with MIL again as this is unforgivable 😢

If you carry on allowing your mother in law to ply your daughter with sugar then she will likely lose teeth. Diet is the main reason for tooth decay. I would take your daughter to the dentist every 3 months and it's unfortunately more than likely other teeth have decay in too. I'm a dentist btw.
Hopefully it only needs a large filling but if she does need a root canal it depends on her temperament if she will tolerate treatment.

I had my first root canal as a child. It is fine. While it is not the funnest experience, none of mine have been as bad as people often describe.

Ithink I was 5yo when the dentist told off my mom about oral hygiene. It was never sugar or bad brushing etc. I just had one of those teeth that would get cavities very easily. Dentists have gone through tons of theories about misisng enzyme, something wrong with my spit, something about needing more fluoride than average, different prescription toothpastes etc.

People who want healthy teeth? at least twice a day is generally recommended

Me and my family. Both now and growing up. Don’t you at least brush twice a day

Could you make MIL come to the dentist with you when DD has her extraction/dental work done?

You could make sure the dentist scares her into being sensible in the future.

Tell the dentist this is what you want. Advice for this not happening again.

You could ask MIL to come with you for support ... .

Does she brush her teeth properly with an electric toothbrush? Is she eating after brushing her teeth? Is she eating loads of dried fruit?
i don’t think its just the sweets to be honest, there is more going on! Your MIL giving her loads of sweets isn’t ideal, but unlikely to be the only reason

I would be livid.

You probably already know.

But I would say it's drinks you should be very careful of.

So avoid fizzy drinks.

Fruits juices.

Pure fruit juices- so stuff like fresh orange juice.

And drinks like capri sun. Fruit shoots. And woth that type of top where kids just take a small sip every so often. Better a glass of drink rather than carrying a bottle where they are sipping every few minutes.

Flavoured fruit drinks- e.g. radnor- bottle that they take a sip out of everyone few mins. Very bad for teeth.

Better if they finish their drink than take sips over a few hours.