4 year old DD needs silver caps

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Moved the topic to Parenting to hopefully get more replies: I have been told my 4 year old daughter needs two silver caps to protect her teeth. I am so sad that I have let her down, my other daughter who is 18months older has never had a single issue with her teeth. The dentist says it’s down to prolonged use of a milk bottle at night. Both have always attended 6 monthly dental appointments and I have always brushed their teeth twice a day without fail. My question is are there any UK mums whose children have had silver caps/you know any children with them in the UK? I have never heard or seen children with them and didn’t realise it was a thing. Google seems to bring up mainly USA posts about them. Thank you, P

My kid has a silver cap. The NHS dentist was rubbish - said she needed a filling (duh) but that she wouldn’t cooperate (true), but instead of discussing options with us or referring her elsewhere he just said on it and said we’ll watch and wait, so we waited and watched this gaping hole in her back molar get bigger and bigger. We went private finally because I got fed up and she popped the cap on after cleaning the tooth. No drilling, no worry. DD did have to be sedated because she was so scared of the dentist by now but she was okay and now she just has a funky shiny tooth.

Thank you so much for replying @lasagnerosesponge How old was your DD? Is it very noticeable? Has anyone ever teased her for it? That makes me feel so much better, I’m having serious mum guilt and really working myself up that it’s this big thing. The dentist didn’t make a big deal of it and was kind about it but since I’ve left I’ve worked it up in my head I think.

She was 6! It’s not massively noticeable unless she’s sitting gaping 😁 And no, no teasing - she’s not the only kid in her circle with a cavity or needing stuff done to a tooth. The dentist who did it was really nice to us as well - asked us about diet and stuff (I let DD answer that one so it didn’t sound like I was trying to cover up a terrible diet). The rest of her teeth are fine so all we can think is that food was caught in a deep groove in her molar and we just didn’t get it out fast enough ☹️ The mum guilt is horrible, but at least the caps are a sign that you’ve cared enough to get it sorted, and if they’re on baby teeth they’ll fall out eventually anyway.

Thank you so much for your reply. I’m glad she’s received no teasing and that it’s hardly noticeable. I think my DDs teeth seem extra deep and she seems to hold food in them. The dentist said it is probably down to having bottles through the night, not so much diet as my other child has had no issues at all but was off the bottle a lot sooner. P

Mine got one done at 6 and I was devastated.. turns out there are a few at school with them and I'd just never noticed! He's 8 now and just had a small filling, the dentist said his teeth are really clean but obviously the sugary things he eats is enough to cause damage even with thorough brushing twice a day, so he's needing to cut it out to just 1 pudding a week at the weekend. Doesn't help he gets pudding everyday at school as well as sweets from the teachers, but not going to lie most of the sugar he has had has been at home.

If your kid’s got deep grooves in their teeth could you look into a fissure sealant as well? We sealed ALL of DD’s teeth to help stop any others decaying.

Do they mean having bottles in the night or was it more a bedtime bottle for longer? I am now worrying about my little one should really drop their bottle!

You just need to brush teeth after milk in the evening, and not let them feed to sleep with it.

My son has 2, he had to have 2 fitted when he was 5 and had 2 out under GA as they couldn’t save them, my other son did all the same things but had no issues with his, no one’s ever teased him or asked me about them and he never seems bothered by them

FInd out what they mean by silver - I would assume it is amalgam which is a mixture of metals including mercury. These have been banned in 43 countries including the EU because of the associated risks. This is not new news and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying.

https://www.melisa.org/metal-sensitivity/articles.

Ours is a stainless steel one - just looks silvery.

Thank you @Lauren83 , this sounds very similar to my two children. One no issues at all and the other one terrible teeth, I wonder if some of it is down to just having rubbish teeth as both of them are superstars with having them brushed, same diet etc but the younger DD definitely had prolonged bottle use which I feel extremely guilty for. So glad your son hasn’t been bothered by them.

Yes that’s it @lasagnerosesponge not actually silver

@springawakeningss Thank you so much for your reply, I’m devastated also and sick about it but it makes me feel better to know it’s more common than you realise. The dentist didn’t seem to make it a big deal so I’m sure we aren’t the first. That is so true about school dinners, my DD definitely has a chocolate cookie every day which will sit on her teeth all afternoon 😢

No it’s stainless steel Hall crown , nothing to do with amalgam .

Thank you all for kindly replying. It definitely helps to ease the guilt that we aren’t the only ones in this situation and Atleast she will hopefully be getting it sorted sooner rather than later

Brush teeth after the bottle. And stop bottles at 12 months. After than can use a sippy cup / beaker. And brush teeth after.

Ive worked in schools and the kids I see with silver caps are mostly the children with either extremely passive/mollycoddling parents, or neglectful ones. There’s not much inbetween.

there needs to be more education given to parent about oral hygiene. Not just the basics of brush twice a day, fluoride helps prevent cavities, less sugar blah blah.. but the fact that everything they eat or drink that isn’t water is actively attacking their teeth until their oral PH returns to normal or is neutralised. So constantly sipping juice, milk, even water with lemon/cucumber/strawberries (the stuff people don’t think about) is eating away at their teeth, making their teeth soft so bacteria can eat through them and cause cavities.

in some cases, caps can be needed for children who excessively grind too; so it’s not always at the fault of the caregiver. But when it’s not really anyone’s ‘fault’ when you’ve tried your best but perhaps just didn’t have the education.

Yes, I was going to ask this. I have very deep fissures in my teeth, so had some of them sealed. No fillings at all.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by that, but my child certainly isn't neglected

@lasagnerosesponge was this her adult teeth or baby teeth? They have put paste on her teeth at past visits where smaller holes were but it seems to have escalated quickly as they have only seen us every 6 months with no new holes forming etc the last 2 visits so it was a shock this week

Like I said, lack of education then.

So many children at school with silver caps, fillings, and decayed teeth. It makes me feel really sad I’m not going to lie! But then I see what they have for lunch or they mention what they have for breakfast and it all makes sense.

Well you're utterly charming aren't you. I'm glad you don't work in my childs school.

I’m not being nasty in any sense. There is a huge epidemic of lack of education surrounding dental hygiene, children’s teeth are getting worse. Dentists are pulling baby teeth left right and centre. There isn’t enough information available and children suffer because of it and the parents are asking why, not understanding why it’s happened to their child when they make sure they brush twice a day, every day. Because what isn’t enough. It’s not an insult, it’s a fact, and an observation.