SN and teeth.

[staryeyed]

We went to the dentist today. Not as good as experience as last time- We had some struggling and crying and the SN dentist didn't seem to have the same patience as before. Anyhoo, she said DS has holes forming on his back teeth and we need to cut out all sweet stuff and apply fluoride toothpaste to his teeth. Thing is Im not happy about fluoride toothpastes- ds swallows all the toothpaste and cutting all sweet snacks will be hard- he is getting more restrictive again with what he eats and his behaviour and mood are deteriorating. He was eating really well for quite a while now its going to be hard to sort out his diet again he will hardly eat any fruit or veg at the moment or meat. Any advice?

DS had his milk teeth coated at the dentist due to aplastic enamel (the enamel on his baby teeth hadn't formed properly and left weak patches), could the dentist do similar for your DS?

I dont know the dentist didn't offer. She seemed reluctant to do anything because she said ds is uncooperative. He is 3.l8 btw. I will look into it though.

Our local hospital has a dental unit for SN children. Could you ask your GP to refer you to your nearest hospital that offers this service. I agree coating is the way to go but you need to find a co operative dentist !

We see an SN dentist (who's lovely, no mention of teeth pulling - that's shocking riven). Well worth getting a referral.

Stary - we go to an SN dentist and they've coated Ds2's holey teeth with fluoride varnish. It took six weeks to get him confident enough to let them do it, but they were lovely - just did small steps at a time, sitting in chair first week, going up and down in it in second etc etc. They also gave us a mirror, gloves and the little brush they use for the varnish for us to play with at home, which worked well. He has a check up soon to see whether it has worked - it's only a temporary measure for the back teeth, apparently, as they don't lose them until they're 12 - so think he'll need more work on them eventually . I'm a bit worried as since he broke his leg it's been much harder to clean his teeth properly - can't get the wheelchair into our downstairs bathroom!

Even so, we've been told we must use fluoride toothpaste - and Ds2 swallows it as well. I'm not happy about this either, but I use Kingfisher, so at least the other additives are minimised and I use the minimum amount possible. Not ideal - I keep meaning to try to teach him to spit using ABA - but like everything, I've had to weigh up pros and cons.

To clarify ds already sees an SN dentist our next appointment is in February. Should I bypass the SN dentist and get a referral straight to the dental hospital from the doctor?

Sorry staryeyed - I obviously scanned your posts too quickly.

In answer to your question r.e. getting a doc's referral I would say yes.

I saw that you were seeing an SN dentist - but I suppose like any other profession there are good ones and not so good ones. Do you think he/she thought DS would be fine as he was OK the first time? And maybe was more 'brisk' because of that? Not an excuse, but maybe an explanation. I think a lot of people are 'fooled' by children like our DSes, who don't always display strong and obvious autistic behaviours. For goodness sake, NT children struggle and cry at the dentist sometimes (we have an acquaintance who's a children's dentist) so your one needs to be a bit more sensitive! Imo.

Is there more than one dentist at the practice? We go to a 'dental access centre' where there are a number of dentists, therapists etc.

Maybe consider using xylitol to sweeten things - that has a protective effect on teeth?

a sweetener that despite having the weirdest name is one of the more natural ones around. Has a protective effect on teeth (although best when in chewing gum which I expect to b a great help to you )and has also some effect against ear infections. It is derived from tree bark.

You can get it in liquid and powder form.

you need some pretty specialist info which I do not dare give, but this has some decent info here

that's very interesting information.

not sure there is such thing as a carb free sweetener, as even in nature sweetness comes from sugars.