Toddler Teeth Extraction/Tooth Decay/Enamal Hypoplasia

[ByLuckyFox]

Hi,

i was wondering if anyone can help or has been through something similar. My 20 month old has to have his front 4 incisor teeth removed due to extreme tooth decay. This has been caused by having enamel hypoplasia due to me being ill while I was pregnant.

Thankfully it only seems to be the front 4 but obviously these are the ones you see most. The teeth have eroded so quickly, in such a short time frame and he’s in a lot of pain when I try to brush them. The last few weeks I’ve had to stop even trying due to the pain it was causing. He allows me to brush all his other teeth.

Im really stressing out about him having all 4 removed. Im worried about him being put under and worried about the effects it will have on him starting school with missing teeth. I think if it were just the 2 it would be fine but 4 is quite a gap.

Im praying his adult teeth come in sooner. I asked the dentist if they would and she just said possibly.

From what I’ve been told by dental professionals, tooth extraction or Silver Diamine Fluoride (which turns the teeth black) are my only options but I’ve also been told some conflicting information by them too, so just wanted to see if anyone had been through similar?

Ideally I want them to try and save the lateral incisors, as they aren’t as bad and then take out the central incisors. I know I’m very limited due to his age as many procedures as classed as cosmetic and they don’t do cosmetic dentistry for toddlers, for obvious reasons.

I know there are way worse things that he could be suffering from, but I’m just worried and want to make sure I have all options and information.

Any help/advice or just hearing from anyone that has been through similar would be very much appreciated! X

The key thing is he is going to need a general anaesthetic and they do not want to repeat that again so any dubious teeth will be taken out at the same time to save repeating the proceedure.

The nerve in baby teeth is very large so even a relatively small amount of decay will quickly turn to an abcess and cosmetic work on baby teeth will fail very quickly .

Many children start school missing front teeth , normally due to accidents although decay will contribute to many as well. So by no means will they be the only one . Adult teeth normally come through around age 6 although they may possibly come through sooner.

Your child is in pain , the removal of the teeth will enable him to be out of pain and you to be able to clean teeth well and importantly be careful about drinks and diet. Hopefully this will be the last dental treatment he will then need and will be the only general anaesthetic he needs . Trying heroic measures to save a couple of teeth for the next four years will doom him to more pain and more proceedures , probably very quickly and would not be approved on the NHS and few private dentists would advise it as well.