Tips for supporting my toddler through multiple dental fillings

[ThatHazelAnt]

My 2 and a half year old daughter is getting 8 cavities in filled in all of her molars over the next couple of weeks. Any tips?

No sweet or sugary drinks and clean her twice a day

Why is there such bad decay?

That’s a lot of decay in such a little girl, is there something else going on?

If this is true then how has this happened? Her teeth will be no more than 1 year old, and there’s no way that she’s developed cavities in such a short time.
A dentist would not do 8 fillings in such a young child - they wouldn’t do any unless the teeth were completely black and even then they’d more likely extract the teeth under general anaesthetic.

I’m surprised the dentist wants to fill them- but it sounds like there may be an underlying condition? So getting used to the dentist will be a need for her probably. Most toddlers start off enjoying the dentist so make it seem like fun and be bright and breezy about it all and get someone who can stay relaxed to take her. Use child friendly language like “putting the tooth to sleep” and cleaning and buzzing the tooth etc. and have a low threshold for you to stop it and ask the dentist to allow her a sign to stop too (often raise your hand) and be prepared it may take several visits to achieve the desired outcome. Ask have they considered silver caps instead at all? Or any alternatives… or would a referral to local services for a sedation and all fillings at once be kinder, especially if she’s young for her age and not able to follow or understand commands simply.
My dd had to sadly get extensive dental care from a similar age and did really well. She had a good relationship with the dentists who were a couple with children themselves which helped. She needed oral surgery as a teen and was worried about the injection (sedative) and when I said “but you’ve had lots of injections in the mouth and been absolutely fine” she was like “what? No I haven’t had any” it turns out when they said “putting your tooth to sleep” (with an injection) she hadn’t ever realised it was an injection at all- so it had been pretty much pain free.

No dentist would do that amount of filling in a child under 6.

They should of referred her to a dentist hospital for this? No dentist would do fillings for a 2 year old without gas or air or putting them to sleep.

.

I call BS. At 2 and a half a toddler wouldn't be able to sit still long enough for a filling.

Dentists do sometimes fill - but the standard of care for little ones this young tends to be for them to be removed under general anaesthetic.

OP - when you’re referred to safeguarding, take the help.

I very much doubt this is real, but just in case...

Any tips?? Yeah, don't have any more kids.

There can be underlying issues with teeth. Two of mine had severe enamel hypoplasia in their baby teeth. They were at high risk of cavities despite limiting sugar and regular thorough brushing and flossing. We were lucky and they mostly needed nothing more than fissure sealant.

Babies get teeth before 1.5 years old…

My son popped his first at 3 months!

Beside the point but no more than a year old is a massive exaggeration.

My daughter just had very bad genetics along with deep grooves in all her molars. We brushed her teeth twice a day and limited sugary snacks and just snacks in general. She had the same thing as your daughter at right about the same age, and we also opted for fillings because the cavities were pretty shallow! Anyways, it happens and hopefully since she is getting it done young, she won’t get any more when she’s older. And to the person that said she shouldn’t have anymore kids, dont make assumptions about what happens behind the scenes