2 year old dental abscess misery

[DanielTigersMummy21]

DC is 25 months and teeth and are in a terrible state. The paediatric specialist I've seen has said this is due to extended breastfeeding, especially at night. DC has always been a terrible sleeper and still wakes and feeds multiple times at night. Although I do also think there could be an underlying issue with her teeth, due to all the prescription drugs I took throughout pregnancy for a medical issue. Her first tooth started to show signs of decay 3 months after coming out, despite brushing and a healthy diet. Covid has also been an issue in getting access to dental treatment.

It has been so difficult to try and stop breastfeeding. It has been a vicious cycle of her eating less due to discomfort and bf for comfort and that accelerating the decay. DH has also not been hugely supportive with night times and that doesn't help with night weaning.

We are now at the stage of needing multiple extractions as one of her teeth is so decayed an abscess formed. This first happened in May, it was cleared up with antibiotics and a referral for extraction under GA at the hospital was done. We were told at the time that there would be a wait due to Covid. Fast forward to now and we are still waiting on a hospital appointment and have another abscess, more antibiotics and pain. We had an emergency appointment this week which we were told would prioritise her case but have still heard nothing from hospital. I don't know what to do.

Is anyone else in a similar situation of waiting on an operation for a toddler?

I'm sure you've thought of this before but if there's any way you could go private then I would be doing that. Poor little thing. NHS dentistry was rubbish pre-pandemic and now it's even worse.

No judgement from me here. I’ve been in a similar situation but just wanted to say 10 years down the line it has worked out ok and dc3 now has perfect adult teeth.

My dentist has now years later tentatively suggested that there might be a link between medication and tooth development. Too bloody right there is !!!!!!

I refused to be shamed by the healthcare professionals who blamed breast feeding and poor diet and basically wanted me to burst into tears with remorse. I knew this was a problem not of my making, and like I say, we are now in the teenage years with a perfect set of gnashes, no fillings and hopefully good for many years ( and our diet is the same as ever !)

Get back in touch with your dentist and insist that they follow up their referral it sounds beyond awful.

@MeadowHay

I'm sure you've thought of this before but if there's any way you could go private then I would be doing that. Poor little thing. NHS dentistry was rubbish pre-pandemic and now it's even worse.

I agree but it would be hard to get a private GA for a 2 year old as it can only be done in a hospital environment these days for safety reasons. It may be possible in London somewhere but a normal private dentist couldn't just choose do it.

We went through something similar. DS, who is 2yrs old, had a chipped tooth that subsequently got infected and developed abscess. We went to a private dentist that quoted us a whopping £6000 for tooth extraction under GA in a private hospital sometime within one month. Given this ridiculous price by any standard, I decided to check how things stand with the NHS. I called 111 and told them about the abscess. They booked us in for the next day with a dentist in an NHS hospital and after that, we got an appointment for tooth extraction under GA the following week. Needless to say, it’s all free of charge which saved us lots of time and money compared to going private.

No judgement from me. But just to say I’m 50, and I was once in the same predicament as your child. I was in my late 20s when it was suspected that my mother had or was in contact with someone who had chicken pox, whilst she was pregnant. Apparently a link has been made between pregnancy related chicken pox and poor teeth in the resultant child.
I was told for years it was my fault as a baby/toddler/child, and that I would lose all my adult teeth.

Like a pp poster, once I saw a good dentist, my adult teeth have been as good as anyone else’s.