AIBU to be annoyed by dentist's response?

[SleepRefugee]

Reposted from children's health for traffic!

Hello everyone. Took my daughter (4) to the dentist today as we've noticed some erosion/decay (tiny gap between front teeth) but she took one look, said there's nothing they can do and proceeded to tell me off for allowing her juice . I know juice isn't great, my daughter will dehydrate herself to the point of constipation though. Anyway, we are working on cutting down on juice.

But is it true that they can't do anything about the decay??? It's only tiny so I'm sure no anesthetic would be needed. Do I need to find a different dentist or go private? Don't want the decay to get worse obviously!

Thanks in advance.

rcseng.ac.uk/fds/publications-clinical-guidelines/clinical_guidelines/documents/erosion_guideline.pdf

I have found this on the internet.

Essentially, with children, they keep an eye on it and may cover the patch with resin if there are any problems with pain etc.

But the best way is to minimise the erosion, until the tooth is lost.

It is a far cry from dentists when I was a child - I used to get a filling every time in my first teeth with no anaesthetic. My dentist says this no longer happens because of fluoride toothpaste.

My dentist is just keeping an eye on erosion in one of my children's teeth - there's no pain as yet. If it starts getting sore, we'll look at it again - I think this is pretty standard?

Your dentist's advice was sensible. Reduce juice by diluting more and more, use good quality fluoride toothpaste and brush for a timed two minutes twice daily. You can arrest decay with good oral hygiene and fluoride toothpaste plus appropriate diet control of sugar and fruit acid.

We also had a dentist who ignored decay on DD1's baby teeth when she was little. She went on to have all sorts of infections and abscesses - we took her to a different (good) dentist and he immediately sorted and DD ended up in children's hospital having four teeth out when she was five. He also applied coating on teeth to help stop erosion.

Our (good) dentist told us DD tooth enamel hadn't actually formed properly, probably due to an infection when she was tiny . That's why the teeth were decaying and she needed the coating on all her teeth. She never had juice just water and only a modest number of sweeties etc.

She's 18 now and after braces etc for a few years has great teeth.

I noticed a huge improvement in my kids teeth once I looked at their fruit intake - no more grazing - definite portions ie at break in school, then later in the afternoon.

My ds had the same. The dentist just put some high fluoride toothpaste on it and told me to be extra vigilant about brushing those teeth. That was two years ago and his teeth haven't got any worse.

It's better to leave it and just be extra careful when brushing if it's not causing pain as the front baby teeth tend to fall out at about 6 years old anyway. Why put a 4 year old through a filling if it's not absolutely necessary?

Thanks everyone.

I just don't think a filling would be an ordeal as the gap is tiny, but little bits of food keep getting stuck in it. Might try a different dentist.

A bit of resin may help. Hope you find someone who explains things better.

I'd try a different dentist, having experienced the effects of a very laissez-faire dentist in the UK, which the next dentist had to work very hard to rectify.

It is very difficult to fill a 4 year olds teeth. Then you have to try to improve the filling at some point, all the while wasting their compliance and potentially making them phobic. The tooth only has two years left and if the progression is going to slow/stop when you improve the diet then why put her, you and the dentist through it?

Does she sip juice throughout the day? I think what the dentist said is fair enough, cut out the juice to minimise the decay. 4 is exactly the age we stopped nighttime milk 'because the dentist said so.'

Will she use a straw? Might reduce the exposure of juice to the front teeth?

The gap may be tiny, but they will need to drill the tooth to access the decay & clean that away. That will make the hole bigger. Depending where the decay is, she may need an anaesthetic as the pulp can be quite close to certain areas of the tooth.

Then there is trying to keep it dry while filling it, or you risk the filling falling out!

I do agree with what the dentist said about juice btw. I'd rather she only had water, but as I said above, she doesn't drink enough and tends to get constipated (she also has food allergies so lots of restrictions there too, no dairy/soya/gluten) and her pediatrician says to just get as much liquid in as possible, even if it's juice.

I was expecting they would put on some kind of resin, yes. I think 2 years or more until the tooth falls out IS quite a long time to not do anything (apart from brushing regularly, of course, and trying to limit sugar and acidic foods).

So you would rather put her through a filling that might not even work because of the technical difficulties in placing a filling in a child of that age?

Odd, I saw parents of a two year old recently and they asked me to make her a gum shield in case she fell over...

Why do you want it fixed so badly? Is it cosmetic?

Really, why is it odd, Mrsmorton?

I'm worried the decay will get worse. My daughter is worried about it and wants it gone. She is fine about dental treatment and will sit there patiently if things are explained to her beforehand.

Most people are pleased when the dentist says "we will just monitor it" rather than "lets drill it."

Why is she worried? It's a strange thing to be worried about at the age of four, does she understand that if she drank water that this won't get any worse?

There will always be a dentist somewhere who will do any treatment so you could shop around.

I find your tone a bit unpleasant tbh, mrsmorton. "odd", now "strange"... thanks.

Yes, she understands that water is better for her.

I explained to her why we were going to the dentist and that she might need some treatment on her tooth. Now she keeps looking at it in the mirror and asking about it. Not sure why that is so strange to you.

And surely juice is not the only thing causes dental decay?

I think mrsmorton knows what she's talking about OP.

Put the bairn on a straw and keep diluting the juice so she gets used and listen to your dentist.

Thanks for that, gamerchick. I'm not denying the evils of juice, so that's not really what my post was about.

Does she eat a lot of fruit as well?
My dd dentist made a comment that the town had a very high number of children with tooth decay as most of the parents thought they were being good parents by giving their children pure fruit juice instead of cola and lot's of fruit to eat instead of sweets.
He said that while this was healthier, it was still very bad for their teeth.

I've had a filling on a front tooth (chipped it with a saucepan - don't ask). It didn't take long at all.

My sons front teeth went the same way, resulting in being told off by dentist despite my son being very good with cleaning his teeth.

Was told they wouldn't do anything, so now just waiting for them to finish getting wobbly and fall out. I can't wait for his new smile

They don't fill front baby teeth as there is too high a chance of the tooth completely breaking.