Dentists, please. I have questions my dentist haven't addressed properly.

[kiskideesameanoldmother]

My dd's teeth have broken.

Over 2 weeks the 4 top front ones broke up. she didn't have a knock as far as anyone knew and was completely unperturbed by this. No decay at the time as far as even my dentist had seen up till that time. she had been at least 3 times by the time this had happened.

then i noticed that at least one of the molars but seemed to have a piece that had sheared off. now I suspect it is more than one molar that has suffered damage in this way.

By this time, he had already said that there was nothing he could do but to bring her back as often as possible.

she now needs to have these teeth removed as the softer tissue underneath are exposed so they have begun to decay.

was there more that I could have asked them to do to protect what was happening to her teeth? I feel like many times with the NHS, if you don't know what to ask for or if you are not nag, nag, nagging all the time, they don't offer you any service. Just happy to brush you away. I feel like I could have asked for more to be done for her to not be in the awful position she is in now. All they have done is ask me what I feed her as if i am some feckless person who feeds her child crap.

evening bump

How old is your dd?

You need comeonveneer

she is 3.

i couldn't remember who was the MN dentist.

all I know is that eating fruit and drinking fruit juice is really bad for teeth as is brushing your teeth too soon after eating them. Have you looked on the internet for information for children who have weak enamel and how best to care for their teeth? Also what treatments their are so you can ask for a referral for your dd to have those treatments?

I've been told that one of dd's molars isnlt properly formed which may well have happened at aroudn 30th week of pg (not that I rememebr anythign unusual then), ab's can have an effect too. Does she grind her teeth ?

she hardly ate much fruit besides banana and never drank juice when they started to break up. much less have sweets and sweet drinks. this is what the dentists seemed sceptical about accepting. when they ask me what she has.

can't they see that teeth don't just shatter?

no i haven't thought of anything like weak enamel. it is like the teeth are breaking up, so didn't think of it that way.

no she doesn't grind her teeth and i have not had antib's in about ten yrs.

I am wretching here - I have nightmares about snapping and disintegrating teeth!

There are several condition I believe that can cause big problems with teeth - have a surf I'm sure you could probably narrow down what the problem is and then move dentists if the one you go to will not help/refer you. Most private dentists will take on dc on the NHS or join HSA family dental plan if not.

I am disgusted at their attitude btw and their is a dentistry body you can report them to.

See Cargirl, this is the thing I don't 'get'. "Also what treatments their are so you can ask for a referral for your dd to have those treatments?"

surely a dentist's training, experience and continuing professional development ought to make him be able to make me some suggestions, even for investigation if he didn't knwo what was causing it, to try to find out what is going on.

really, it is just what i expect from myself in order to do my job properly. If i don't know, i try to find out, or point people in the direction where we can learn more.

Disclaimer first off "I HAVEN'T SEEN DD'S TEETH"

However it does sound like a developemental defect of the enamel, not necessarily to do with antibiotics etc. I don't want to go into details about the possible disorders as without seeing the case a lot of the info could be irrelevant and unecessary.

Is it isolated to a couple of similar teeth (ie ones that came through at a similar time) or random around the mouth or even all the teeth?

What you can do is limit the sugar and acid on the teeeth by diet, (check food labels), excellent oral hygiene (brushing), apply a dab of sensodyne toothpaste onto the exposed areas where the enamel has come off to reduce sensitivity .

But most importantly get back to your dentist to discuss the possibility of a developmental defect with the teeth and what the future holds for these teeth. The answers you have been given are not good enough.

thanks COV.

i have been in a lot of tears over this. yes there is a pattern of defect. as i said, the front top incisors all broke before anyone saw any caries. it now turns out that 4 molars are affected. I can't explain which ones they are but the are mirror images of each other and they are not the last sets on either mandible.

at the time she had been 'going to the dentist' with either me or dh at our six month checks so she was there every 3 months.

but there has been so long a lag between when he noticed the first decay in a molar to when we have gotten an appt for a referral that now we find out that according to the dentist, she will have to have the four incisors and four molars removed.

Couldn't they have been a little more proactive about advising me? What could I ave asked for? Can still ask for? can investigate as far as treatment go? I know that the four incisors have to go because they are so badly broken it was inevitable.

But the molars, can't they cap them or something instead? even as a temporary treatment say a few yrs and make the decision to remove them later on when they have a lot less to work with?

Depends how bad the teeth are as to what can be done. If you aren't happy ask for a second opinion or a referal to a specialist in peadiatric dentistry. All you can do is excellent cleaning and good diet control. Get knowhow about food contents/labelling.

thanks, will do that.
will ahve to hammer away on the phone tomorrow then.