DD is going for two fillings on Friday, I have some quick questions

[sherby]

Will the filings be amalgam or the white stuff?

And also will she need an injection first or not, I have always had my filings without an injection, is it the same for children.

She is 3 btw. I have tried phoning the dentist but she is always busy.

DD had to have a filling a few years ago on a milk tooth . The NHS dentist offered her cream stuff or an injection. DH and I had never heard of the cream stuff and dh told her an injection would hurt (twit) so she opted for the other stuff. Having the filling hurt. She should have had the injection.

Luckily she hasn't needed another, but if/when she does she'll have an injection.

You can have the cream stuff on the gum so it numbs the area for the injection.

dd is 5, and did need an injection for her fillings - in fact, in the end, she needed sedation because she had 3 crowns and 5 fillings done. I expect it depends on where they are, how much they hurt, etc.

The crowns are 'silver' (as per dd's request!) and the fillings are white. She has soft enamel, but the main problem is her teeth are very close fitting and we hadn't thought to floss an under-5 yr old! All the decay was between teeth.

They hurt, she couldn't eat on one side, there was no question of waiting another 5 years for them to fall out

I have been a dental nurse for 15yrs - albeit private practice for the last 13 yrs, but as she is only 3 & therefore it will be a good few years before the tooth is lost, then they do have to place a filling to keep the tooth healthy & prevent further decay, or the loss of the tooth early. Taking into account her age the dentist will probably not place an amalgam(silver filling),even on NHS. It will probably be a material called Glass Ionomer which is used for adults as a temporary/semi-permanent filling, or in kids as a filling in baby teeth. Its not as strong as the white composite(plastic) fillings, or the amalgam, but does the job til the tooth is lost. It also contains fluoride, so is ideal to strengthen the underlying tooth. We, personally, wouldnt give an injection to a 3yr old - we would just 'spoon out' any decay / food deposits & then place the filling. It doesnt take long to do. This does all depend, BTW, on the degree of decay, size of hole, etc, but in general this is what we would do in our practice.
Fissure sealants are, in general, only used on permanent molars to coat the deep fissures on the biting surface of the tooth & therefore protect them from food/plaque trapping & causing decay. So these would not be done till about 8,9 or 10yrs old (depending on when the teeth erupt into the mouth - different for each child!). Hope this helps!!

thank you josie, very helpful

So worried for her, although I haven't had any problems at the dentist before so I know she will be fine, but still [scared]

All dentists are different, & as I said I dont work in the NHS, but most good dentists will try the simple approch first - more preventative & gentle for your dd as she is so young. And make sure she gets lots of stickers!! Good luck - hope it goes well.

While we are on this subject people, anyone's had any experiences or advice for replacing front baby teeth, my 2 year old son is having 3 of his pulled out next week because they reckon my breast milk made his teeth rot.

Breast milk is sweet - I'm sure I'm not the only one of us who tried some just to find out! But so's formula. Babies do actually need sugary carbohydrates. So don't feel guilty or let anyone use this as an argument against breast feeding. You can feel guilty about not cleaning his teeth if you like, but cleaning babies' teeth is a pig of a job and I think we're all guilty of not doing it well enough and often enough.

My almost six year old had a small filling today on a back tooth and although it was very quick and straight forward- I feel awful. We are really careful about brushing- we do it morning and night. Now the dentist says another one looks a bit dodgy....what am I doing wrong???