Would you judge a friend who’s preschooler

[Isitjustmoi]

(NC)
had already had 3 fillings?

I would judge someone who wants the attention so much they don't put the full question in the thread title. Sad.

"Whose"

Absolutely would judge that. There is absolutely no excuse for poor nutrition or health at that age.

I would say it's actually neglectful to have rotted the teeth out of a preschoolers mouth.

At that age I'd assume an underlying illness that affects her teeth

Is this your preschooler?

Yes I definitely would

Do you know everything about the child's teeth/health/diet?

There are various medical reasons for poor/weak enamel in childrens teeth, lots of which relate to the prenatal period and are totally beyond either parent or child's control.

No, I'm not sure I'd even notice if they had them or not. What I do notice is kids whose entire teeth are rotten to the point there's nothing left of them, probably because they've never visited a dentist.

The dentist was surprised I only have one filling and I'm 40. I'm not sure but I think some people are more prone to them for one reason or another.

Why would I know? I assume if you are telling me then its because he has a condition that means he cannot have sugar or ends up with a filling. If it because you feed him sugar 24/7 then I probably wouldn't expect to hear about it.

Of course not. What if it was caused by hypoplasia or other genetic malformation?

Depends surely? Some children have weaker teeth due to illness during pregnancy or certain medication. Some have SN which might make cleaning teeth extremely challenging for a parent to manage successfully. If it's because their teeth just aren't being brushed due to neglect then yes, but you haven't given us that info.

I would assume the child needed medication as a baby/toddler and that affected their teeth.

How and why would I know? I have no idea about the dental history of my friend’s children.

If you proudly told me, while your child was swigging a baby bottle of full sugar coke and holding a sharing size packet of haribo, I’d probably judge, yes. If I just found out in some way and you otherwise appeared to be a fairly responsible parent I’d probably assume child had a medical issue or something (I knew someone with awful dental issues as a child, apparently it was to do with her mother’s medication in pregnancy or something like that) and not think much of it.

Absolutely would judge that. There is absolutely no excuse for poor nutrition or health at that age.

What if the child had enamel hypoplasia for medical reasons?

Children's health isnt all within the parents control. One of my kids has some dental problems due to growth issues in utero. I dare you to blame/judge me for that.

Baby teeth?

I wouldn't. There's plenty of reasons this can happen which isn't directly linked to diet or tooth brushing.

No!!! God no!

I am on the friends side of things however no fillings!
DD14 beautiful teeth. DD6 also.
DD8, her baby teeth were brown. People judged! But she had medication for suspected meningitis when she was 6 months old. The antibiotics messed her teeth up completely. I was so relieved when her baby teeth fell out!

Would I judge...before yes. Now that I know that there are so many uncontrollable factors that I would not judge!

If I knew 100% that it was just lack of care, irregular brushing or diet..I would judge that. But that is something nobody would ever tell you, so I always assume there is something underlying.

Tell that to my autistic 3 year old who only eats 3 different foods and screams blue murder every night when we brush his teeth.

Yes

Yup. Teeth brushing non negotiable in our house. Its the one thing I will pin them down for!

This.

Of my five children one had several of their baby teeth needing fillings. They didn't eat, drink or brush teeth any different to the rest of my children.

Dentist put it down to my health in pregnancy. Thankfully her big teeth are better, but she has been well warned by the dentist she really needs to take amazing care of them as the weaknesses may still be there.

I started out thinking yes I would, but actually, the child has clearly seen a dentist regularly so the parent is presumably doing what they can. My DC - one has seen a dentist twice, one not at all. I cannot find any dentist to register them under NHS abd can't afford £56 each for a check up. I have, thankfully, found a subsidised dentist so they have a check up next month.

No, not alone. If said child was guzzling gallons of fizzy drink etc, then maybe.
I've never looked after my teeth, but have never needed a filing.
I think part of it is luck and genes.

Nope. I was at college with a girl who had had dentures since she was a young teen. She had bad teeth from bebyhood, can't remember what it was called but nothing to do with diet or toothcare

My 3 year old had grey teeth due to a trauma. They have lightened to a pale yellow now she is 4.

DS2's teeth are weaker than DS1's.
DS1 had CMPA and other allergies/ intolerances so during DS2's pregnancy/ BFing/ weaning, my diet was affected by DS1's restrictions.

DS1 is fortunate to have stronger teeth. It's taken so many years to develop toothbrushing routines without constant meltdowns due to his ASD and SPD. To the extent that at at 8, he missed most of DS2's birthday party due to a 90 minute meltdown about toothbrushing. We got there in time for the food having missed the actual activity. It's an activity that DS1 enjoys, that's how strong the aversion to a toothbrush in his mouth has been.

There are many reasons besides diet/ neglect that can cause issues with dental health/ hygiene.