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Children's health

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Original poster

Dentist wants to take 2 teeth out of ds

32 replies

PeppaIsBack · 04/04/2012 16:03

ds, who is 6yo, never had any issue with his teeth. This week he developped a tooth infection on one his baby teeth.
Obvioulsy he is now on Antibiotics but the dentist said he will need to have that tooth out as it is now dead. He is also talking about taking the same one on the other side as it has 'some decay' (filling has been put on). The idea is that, if they take a tooth out just on one side, because the space his new teeth will have will be different on both sides, the teeth will grow with an 'irregular spacing'.
He asked me if I though ds would be able to cope to have his teeth removed under local anestetic without sedation .

So my questions are:

is it really necessary to have both teeth out (one of which is 'healthy').
is it necessary to have any of the teeth out?

Apparently, his adult teeth will grow afterwards so I am wondering if it is really necessary to go such a procedure....

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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gordonpym · 05/04/2012 09:41

DS1 8y had an abscess on a tooth. Dentist gave antibiotics and told us it will have to be extracted soon or later unless it fall on its own, which was very likely as it had almost no root left. The tooth wasn't bothering my son, so I said we could wait a couple of months and see. The tooth fall after 6 weeks, and the new tooth is coming out.
Can't you just "wait and see"?

Original poster

PeppaIsBack · 05/04/2012 09:46

Oblomov I am not objecting to it per se. But I am not going to have anything done on me or the dcs wo understanding why. And the why were not clear at all!

My job has also told me that a lot of things are done 'because it's the hospital procedure/NHS procedure' and they are not always the best route to take for a particular person. So I have stopped accepting that X will happen because doctor/consultant/dentist told me. Certainly a pov to take into account but I want to understand why first.

grumpy thank you very much for all your explainations! Really appreciated it.

OP posts:

ihearttc · 05/04/2012 20:40

I was a dental nurse for 10 years pre-children and in our practice we always tried to save baby teeth. Obviously I can't comment on what your dentist saw but after AB's for the infection we would tried to attempt a pulpotomy first and see how that goes before attempting an extraction.

You can't just leave a tooth which has had an infection/abscess in it because even though the AB's will work the infection will still remain so a pulpotomy is like a Root Canal Treatment but for baby teeth. It basically cleans out the infected bit of the tooth and puts something in the top bit (which I can't remember what it is now!) and then put a filling on top.

If it was me I wouldn't let them take out his teeth unless it was absolutely necessary. Yes by taking out the other one the space will be "equal" both sides but childrens teeth can come through in all sorts of odd ways (as my own DS is proving now!) so even without both teeth there is no guarantee the new teeth will come through in the space they are meant to.

Please bare in mind I haven't been dental nursing for 7 years now so things may have changed significantly but if it was my son (who is 7 btw) I would be doing exactly as you are questioning the need to remove any of the teeth before more conservative treatment is attempted first.

CPtart · 05/04/2012 21:08

Peppa - I too have one DS with 2 dead front teeth after a fall, and another DS with an abcess awaiting extraction. Where are we going wrong??!!

Grumpystiltskin · 05/04/2012 22:20

ihearttc formocresol? Cresophene? Caustinerf? They are my faves

Original poster

PeppaIsBack · 06/04/2012 10:23

Thank you ihearttc.

TBH I had a chat with mh DH and we had decided not to go for the extraction unless there is there is an infection again.
And he will certainly not have a 'good' tooth removed just to space them out nicely.

However, I will ask for the pulpotomy if this is a good way to clear the infection and I am working on building his immune system up again. This has just happen on a background of him being ill with one thing and the other for a few months now and I guess he is lso run down, therefore more prone to infections.

CPtart I don't know .... except that I know sugar isn't the issue and that they do both brush their teeth (with an electric toothbrush to try and increase the efficiency). I don't really see what else I can do on that side.
What I know is that the only time when I had problems with my teeth I was very run down so I will be trying to 'work' on that instead.

OP posts:

izzybobsmum · 01/05/2012 14:02

I have a 6 year old dd. She has two baby teeth, one on either side, which have crumbled away quite significantly. She's now got an infection in one, and the dentist has prescribed antibiotics but said that if the infection's not cleared up in a week he'll refer her to have them out.

Your responses above have been really informative, but as a mum I'm utterly guilt ridden that I've done something wrong.

It doesn't help that my mum has been having a bit of a go at me because dd once told her that she doesn't clean her teeth before bed. If I'm being honest, there's probably two or three times when bedtime has been such a rush that I've forgotten to do her teeth, but only two or three times maximum.

Does anyone know why it happens? (and can help me assuage my guilt?!)

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