5yr old been advised to have 8 teeth out

[Hungrycaterpillarsmummy]

Honestly I am in shock
We took DS to the dentist a couple of months ago because he told me his tooth/cheek hurt and I noticed a bit of one of his molars (D) had chipped. They did X rays and said that tooth definitely needs to be pulled. They did a check of his other teeth and found decay starting on some but didn't say much about it. They referred us to discuss the plan for this tooth to come out and whilst there, they told DH that really, ds needs 8 teeth removed. The 4 back teeth on the top and bottom.

I'm in shock because nothing of the sort was mentioned at his first appointment. Although they did find a hole on his left second molar (E) and it does look like that needs pulled.
Mh and DH had an appointment with the dentist today to discuss it all without da being there. Essentially the top 4 teeth on having starting signs of decay.
We have put so much more focus on teeth brushing, limiting sugar etc since the first appointment that I feel we can try and repair the damage caused to those 4 upper teeth.
The dentist is recommending we pull all 4 from the bottom which I do kind of agree with. But I'm not sure I agree with the top and the reason they are giving, is because they don't want to have to do a second general anaesthetic months down the line.
Whereas, I'm not convinced would need them out at all if we really focus on his teeth.
They did suggest we could cap those 4 upper teeth but that involves 8 appointments. One person tooth to put the elastic spacer on, and one person tooth to put a cap on it.

I suggested we pull the bottom 4 and monitor the top 4 but they said they just wouldn't pull the bottom 4 In that case! I'm so confused. It seems conflicting to the online advice of extraction being the absolute last resort and that filling teeth isn't an option. Whereas we have read baby teeth can be filled..

Anyone have any advice?
Please be kind as we are really feeling so guilty about it already.

Adult teeth?

Baby

The capping sounds like a lot of dental work and a lot of appointments. It seems drastic, but if the dentist recommends removal, isn't that the best thing? Less distressing overall? He's so small.

Sounds dramatic for a 5 year old. I would visit another dentist for second opinion.

I didn't think you could reverse decay.

Depends on this situation if you trust the dentist, they after all are the expert on this.

I wouldn't want my child going through 2 dental extractions under GA if it could be done in one,

Well you can’t undo the decay that’s already been done.
If it’s actually highly likely that within another year he’s in pain and needing another general anaesthetic the I think I’d be just getting it all over with.

See another dentist for a second opinion

Please get a second opinion! This happened with my 7yr old from a NHS referral to St Thomas's in London - they wanted to extract 10 teeth! We were moving to Australia so a dentist friend advised to wait until we were here. Found a Peadratic dentist, who was completely shocked at the suggestion. Daughter had this condition

www.kewpaediatricgroup.com.au/chalky-teeth/

She had four baby molars extracted also due to overcrowding, now 17 and teeth are all fine. From memory some were capped to prevent further deterioration etc. Feel free to PM me and I'll try to remember more!

You can't reverse decay.

Get a second opinion if you would like the reassurance but a trained dentist has given their opinion. They don't take a kid's teeth out for nothing.

It'll be a shock for you, take care.

Sorry op but I think if he's in pain it might need to be done. I think if I were you I would get a second opinion, (maybe from a dentist who specialises in paediatrics if you can?) just to put my mind at ease about extraction being the only option.

You know now for when he has his big teeth come through. Lessons learned! Don't beat yourself up too much

I don't think decay can be reversed

Also re removing top and bottom... when I had to have a bottom wisdom tooth removed, due to it growing sideways into the tooth next to it, they took the perfectly healthy and straight top tooth out as it would have nothing to bite against

You can’t reverse decay. The plan to pull teeth instead of fill them is NHS policy to save costs. The NHS won’t pay to do fillings on baby teeth, so dentists just pull them. You are right it can be done, you just have to pay for it.

I had to be clear with my dentist that I was more than happy to pay private costs to have my DCs’ baby teeth get fillings rather than let them decay to the point of being pulled.

Wow we had this yesterday my dd 9 needs 4 out... just last month it was 1 and a filing!

Did the once say fillings were an option ??

Sorry I was shocked yesterday now im just thinking and seeing your post makes sense.

Don't feel guilty. This happens a lot and you often hear of one child in the family with decay in baby teeth and the other children have none. It is just one of those things.
I suspect the teeth pulling must be an NHS cost saver. We aren't in the UK and here you can pay for a paediatric dentist. It costs thousands but they cap the decaying baby molars with silver crowns under general anaesthetic and do fisher seals, coat the teeth with fluoride etc and in this way save the baby teeth. I've heard of so many children getting it done. Honestly you'd wonder if it's all a bit of a money spinner and maybe it is better to just pull the baby teeth.

I have found that dentists seem to assume that parents don’t want to pay for any dental care for their DC, so they only offer the option that the NHS will cover, which is pulling teeth. I have had to be very clear and firm that if they see any decay, to discuss a filling with me. This is based on my eldest having decay and a tooth pulled and I was asking dentist why didn’t you catch it? Why wasn’t a filling offered sooner? Dentist explained the above and it shocked me, so for all my DC I have made a point of this to dentists.

If it's early decay it can be reversed but it has to be caught early enough. Smear the effected teeth with toothpaste after brushing. Don't rinse it off just leave it on..Get a second opinion as it sounds off your dentist is refusing to pull what they say are decaying teeth beyond repair because you won't agree to more being pulled.

What is your child eating or drinking to have such high level of decay? Are they a sugar free squash drinker by any chance?

My first question to the dentist if they’re baby teeth would be what would the impact on the adult teeth be if we don’t do it.

The benefit of keeping the teeth is keeping the structure for the adult teeth coming in. My son had similar issues as a kid, baby teeth didn't develop enamel properly and had lots of decay. We paid privately for it to be treated under GA. In the end only one tooth got pulled, the rest were filled/capped, with six monthly checks ever since. Adult teeth came in healthy and strong.

My DS had significant decay at that age. They did all the work under general including removing decay from 4 molars, putting in fillings and then capping them. This was 2 on each side. He had a couple of more minor fillings done at the same time. This was with a specialist paediatric dentist done privately. The dentist said the teeth might move too much for the adult teeth to come in straight if we removed a few. His preference was to remove decay and cap rather than remove the teeth if possible. He's had zero problems with those caps and they've been in place for over 5 years now. I do wonder if the different advice is to do with who's paying for the treatment, if it's privately or publicly paid for.

I had 9 teeth removed as a kid cos my mouth was so small-- 5 then 4. It was ok.

The dentist definitely said we could reverse the current decay because it wasn't thought to the dentin.
But for the bottom four... definitely two need to come out and I think the other two have decay that didn't show up on the x-ray but the dentist have told us look bad and I've managed to see one tooth and sure enough it is rotting. So if they take the four from the bottom, would there be any point in having the equivalent top teeth? As a pp has said, they removed her top tooth due to removing the bottom one.

The dentist said kids rally so fast and it's more turmoil for me and DH. He will also get his new molars coming in the next 6 months or so. We could see it on the x-ray a little bit under the gumline.

Yeh so they said they absolutely would not fill and cap under a GA. :( How do I find a private paediatric dentist?

I will never understand UK dentistry (being the offspring of a UK dentist) and why the NHS doesn't heavily promote flossing - Once they come through after the surgery, FLOSS THEIR ADULT TEETH. Please. So much decay, fillings, root canals and extractions could be avoided if people just brushed and flossed. It is the equivelant of showering without washing your armpits/underneath areas. It gets so much gunk out that sits and causes decay. Good luck with the surgery. Hopefully things get much better once they're out.

Well it's dental neglect in the first place. You're mad at the wrong person here.