Tooth extraction at 5

[Shades1]

5 year old son has tooth decay in 4 teeth, and yes I feel like a terrible mum because of this . he woke up a week ago with tooth ache in one of the teeth, which persisted intermittently for a day.

I took him to our dentist, who referred us on to a paediatric dentist who we saw on wednesday. My dentist asked for the teeth to be extracted, and he is now booked in to go on Monday to have all four teeth taken out, they said whilst he is under a general anaesthetic they would take any with decay out whether they were causing problems or not.

Anyway the pain that was in the tooth hasn't caused him any problems since last weekend, and I'm very hesitent to let them take 4 teeth out and am thinking about cancelling the appointment on Monday and taking him to another dentist for a second opinion.

It seems a bit extreme to knock him out, take four teeth, when one has caused pain 2 or 3 times in a 24 hour period.

When I asked if they could be filled he said we'd have "co-operation" issues, it seems like this is the easiest way for them to handle this rather than what's in my childs best interests.

Some help and guidance needed please

if it has decay and has caused pain then it won't get better... in all likelihood it will get worse. and at best he will have this intermittent pain until the tooth comes out

Agree with starlover, if tyhe pain gets worse and you've cancelled the appointment he may well be in for a long nd painful wait.

My dd recently underwent a general and the recovery time is surprisingly very quick.

I don't see the harm in a 2nd opinion, assuming you can get it fairly quickly. I would go for that to be sure you're happy about the treatment.

Hi

talked this over again with DH and the underlying issue I have is that I'm terrified of general anaesthetics - I have a fear of never waking up - looked at again practically and if I was advising anyone else I'd tell them to go ahead with the extraction.

He hasn't been allowed anything to eat or drink since 8.30am this morning so now to keep him occupied where he doesn't over exert himself and get too thirsty until we have to leave at 1.30pm.

Coincidentally he lost his first tooth naturally yesterday and was delighted with the gold under his pillow this morning - and is looking forward to finding 4 more tomorrow !

Good luck, it'll all be over and done with before you know it!

Dentist like to hang on to baby teeth as long as possible to maintain the space for the adult teeth that are coming through underneath. How bad do the teeth look to you? Are they mushy and black or do they look OK?

If they don't look too bad they could probably be saved by having a pulpotomy on each tooth (removing the dying nerve and re-filling). This all depends on your son's cooperation in the chair though.

I would go and see another NHS dentist to see what they say. I took my DD to see an emergency dentist on holiday (young ish) and he said her tooth needed to come out. When we got home and we saw our usual dentist (my old boss) he started a pulpotomy on it and said of course it wasn't coming out.

Whatever you do, do not do nothing. He will have a lot of pain if he is left. This could involve swelling in his mouth and possibly a swollen face and he'll need antibiotics.

Eek! sorry have just read you're going ahead.

it's o.k. that was my concern when I spoke to the paediatric dentist and I asked about long term affects - where there is just one being taken out he'll be fine, but on the left hand side at the bottom it's the two at the back, which he may have some issues with crowding when he's older, and it's those two that look the worst.

We can just about get him to sit in the chair, he won't lay back, and only had a mirror put in his mouth for the first time last week.

I pushed the dentist on alternative treatment and he said he could do what you suggest, but in all honesty I know that it would be really traumatic for him and I know i couldn't get him to sit there whilst four were done, and he'd never trust me again with going to the dentist - he has no fear at the moment.

I feel really mean though, he's just run in to kiss me before going out with dad to do big boys stuff (taking some old furniture to the tip) - sat in the car and waved to me with a big smile on his face - if he only knew what was coming

Shades1 my dd had dental surgery at 5 and didn't phase her at all. She did not have them extracted - filled and coated (her molars came through with no enamel on due to high temps as a bub). Is there any reason why they can't fill the teeth instead of extracting them????

well he's been and had them done, and has bounced back brilliantly.

The process was very quick, it was awful holding him whilst he was given the general anaesthetic, this was a pipe in his mouth, and watching him go under. The teeth were out in seconds, he was confused coming round and there was what seemed quite a lot of blood, he was crying quite a bit.

Within an hour he was back to normal, had something to eat and drink and was playing again.

It isn't something I would recommend in a million years, but it was quick and I know for certain the pain is gone for him.

Well done Shades, now make sure you water down all his juice big time, even pure juice. If you give him sweets he needs to eat them all at once and not over the course of a day. Don't let him take juice to bed, just water. HTH.

that's good to hear - glad it is all over.

believe it or not my DS is like max wilde - he doesn't have juice ever ! he chooses to drink water or milk, he has an apple, babana or a cheese stick between meals if hungry but try not to give him anything, and as DH and I are not big sweet eaters we don't have them in the house they're usually bought when on holiday - he's allowed a mini roll at lunchtime and a choice of dessert after dinner - he usually opts for a muffin

with both DS's once teeth are cleaned at night time they are only allowed water

that's why it's been so hard for me that he's ended up with tooth decay anyway - I know his diet isn't a problem and his teeth are cleaned for him twice a day with adult toothpaste

this is why the dentist has now suggested flossing his teeth, as the decay wasn't in the middle it started between teeth

I hated being looked at with a knowing frown from the dentist and them saying to me "well you APPEAR to be doing everything right and if you ARE doing EVERYTHING you say ......" as if I'm going to lie about my childs dental health

The way I understand it is that some children just have teeth which are more susceptible to decay than others. It's not always the case that a child with caries has been given loads of sweets, sugar, juice and so on - and it's wrong of your dentist to make you feel as if he thinks you're lying.

I'm glad he has coped so well with it.

Glad to hear it all went smoothly for your ds.

My ds1 had 3 teeth out when he was 5, not given a general just numbed with an injection then gas & air.

My choice as he'd already been thru 2 operations under a general. Big mistake!! Was really traumatic for him one tooth split and he was screaming in pain as they tried to pull the rest of it out.

If I was ever in the same position again - which I hope I never am - I would opt for a general.

I feel a bit better having read this thread,having been feeling majorly guilty over ds1's (age 5)recent trip to the dentist who found 6 or 7 cavities.And I thought I was doing my best to look after their teeth.Anyhow,our dentist recommended filling them,so we'll see how that goes.I am going to get a second opinion as well though.

HI FN, my dentist only recommended extraction because he began to have toothache, which kept him up 2 nights, and it was really hard at 2.30am with him crying, and not being able to stop the pain.

It's a week on and his gums have healed amazingly well, looking back I'm glad he's had them done now.

Although we did have one debate the other night when I wanted to clean his back teeth and said you don't want to have to go back and have more teeth taken out do you ? to be told, yes I want another gold !!! (it was £1 per tooth)

Having read this thread I immediately remembered what someone I've recently met told me. She has a 4 year old who had 4 back teeth removed when she was 3 as they were decaying. Apparently, this person had been treated for an abcess when she was pregnant and she has since found out that there are certain antibiotics which can affect the unborn baby's teeth. The decay was nothing to do with her child's diet or how well she cleaned them at all.

I don't know whether this applies to you S1 but I wanted to post it here as I don't think this is common knowledge - I certainly was unaware of this before now.

S1 - I'm really pleased to hear that your son's gums have healed so well and that he's been so unaffected by it (so to speak ).