Daughter has cavities?

Question

My daughter is 8 years old and I took her to the dentist yesterday for a check up, it's been a year since she was last there, and the dentist says she has 4 cavities. She's never had any before, and I don't let her eat much sugar, I feel like a terrible mother now that she has cavities! He says she needs to have them filled soon because they're quite bad, but she's never complained of any pain in her teeth before. He said he could do the fillings 2 at a time depending on how she is, but she's absolutely terrified. Is it better to get them done one at a time or get it over with as quickly as possible? And is there anything I can do to make her less scared about it all?

Answer 1

I would highly suggest all at once if possible,... that way it one horror session and not many to look forward too.... I'd rather have it all done at once instead of reliving a Bond like torture session with a light shining in my face, shots in the mouth, and drilling joy...

Unlikely,. or potentially costly, but what about sedating her? Yes,. waking up with a sore numb mouth sucks,. but its better thatn living through the fun I mention above

As far as what to do in the future,.. yeah,.. obviously brush twice a day,.. but even more importantly is floss... thats the key,... I used to brush twice a day and I thought i was set,... thats until a trifecta of cavities greeted me (in my adult teeth no less) and I couldn't understand why? Turns out,. I was missing one of the important preventative measurements in the equation.... all the cavities were between teeth (joy) and that was enough for me to really get serious about flossing,... people even make fun of me for being so anal about it... but that dentists chair is just not something i like sitting in,... especially when there about to start doing heavy construction in my mouth

as far as making her less scared,.. be completely honest,... she might not be the happiest now,.. but she'll respect you down the road for not lieing to her.....

Tell her,.. it will be slightly painful,.. but if she doesn't do it now,.. its going to be way worse and hurt a lot more,..

I swear,.. I'd still love to slug the dentist who told me,... "no,. it won't hurt,... you'll just feel a little pressure"

Answer 2

At least you have done the right thing by taking your daughter to the dentist. It is important as new teeth develop and erupt that she goes every months.

You are not a bad mother just because your daughter has cavities. These may not necessarily be caused by sugar - it could they way they have developed.

If the cavities are in deciduous teeth or "baby" teeth, there is not alot of enamel on the teeth and therefore decay can moved quite quickly.
Also, are the cavities decayed OR are they not decayed and need only fissure sealing - this means sealing the pits or grooves on top of the teeth to prevent future decay.
Fissure seals are very common as the groove is very tiny and food can compact there. Cause they are tiny, this mkaes it hard to get the toothbrush bristles to clean, then decay happens.

I think that the dentist is right by only do 2 at a time. This would generally because of a few reasons -
1. Because your daughter hasn't had any treatment before and it may make her feel more comfortable,
2. The filling material if it is a "white" composite resin filling, it is important that it is kept dry during the procedure and
3. Some children have a short attention span and can wriggle around a bit (please don't take offence to this).

If your daughter is nervous - ask the dentist about some nitrous oxide or "happy gas" for your daughter to breath in during the treatment.

I'm sure that your daughter does a very good job of brushing her teeth but even at that age, you could still supervise her brudhing.
A helpful product from Colgate are some "Disclosing" drops or tablets to test just how well she is brushing - you can also test yourself - you'll be surprised.

Don't worry, it will all be fine.

Best of Luck.

Answer 3

Oh my gosh, I just went through the same thing. My son who is only 6 years old went to the dentist for the first time about 1 month ago. I noticed some black marks on two of his teeth and sure enough he had two cavities. I felt sooooooo bad. I also felt like a bad mother. I had always made sure he brushed his teeth twice daily at least and flossed every once and a while (I know it should be everyday). Well my son was scared but I just sat down with him and role-played the dentist situation out. I made him lay down in a chair, open his mouth, and I even pinched his gyms to show him how the needle would feel. I made all the loud sounds that the drill would make and we talked about deep breathing. He had the cavities on opposite side of his mouth so the first visit he had one cavity done. He came home and was like "that was no big deal" and he was not scared to see the dentist for the second filling. However I would suggest you get two done at a time. Good-luck and don't feel bad, we do the best we can as mothers and things could be much worse.

Answer 4

You probably aren't a terrible mother....Those are the ones who blow off their kids' appointments; believe me, I see plenty of those. The cavities may be on the chewing surface of the tooth, so there are grooves on the top of them - these can get cavities no matter how much you brush and if that's the case, if it's anyone's fault, it's the dentist for not putting sealants on those teeth when your daughter was 6 or 7. (this is assuming their the first molars that erupted around six years old in the back of her mouth)

Secondly, if they're between the teeth, that's just a matter of not flossing. Buy those flosser sticks - that helps kids as they can't easily manipulate the floss w/ little fingers that aren't coordinated that well...
Again, if that comes as a surprise to you, you should have a dentist whose hygienist teaches kids to floss when they come in for a cleaning!

Does she have her ears pierced? If so, dental injection is comparatively less traumatic. Pinch and that's it. If she's really nervous and the dentist doesn't seem to be the kind of personality to put kids at ease, get a referral to a pediatric dentist who has nitrous oxide (laughing gas). This will help immensely. I can do fillings on four year olds using the gas...and they dont' even realize they have an injection.

Above all, don't communicate your worry to her! If you act nervous she'll take her cues from you. the more anxiety you have, the more it hurts as there's a connection between pain and how "stressed out" you are.

Answer 5

I would only do 2 at a time. I guess it depends on the type of sedation or numbing they do. My son just had one filled and they used a novicane shot. He bit his lip really bad because it was numb. If they use laughing gas, probably best to do all of them. My son never had a shot in his mouth before,but he didn't even whimper. It's really not that bad. I didn't tell him that they were gonna give him a shot, and neither did they. They told him it was a magic gun or something like that. Don't feel like a bad mom. Kids go through this kind of stuff. She might be scared, but it's the best thing for her to do. Ask the dentist what your options are for numbing. When my oldest son had dental work done, they took him to the hospital and put him under because he was so scared. He was 4 or 5 at the time. Good luck. I know it's a hard thing to go through.

Answer 6

I would go along with getting two (2) at a time fixed, preferably having the dentist use gas, this way she will not experience any pain/discomfort, etc. If she hasn't been brushing/flossing, please make sure she does. Be calm, possibly do some role playing (as if you were the dentist, she the patient) assuring her she will be in good hands once she actually gets to his/her office. It may be something genetic, don't feel like a bad mom. Get this taken care of A.S.A.P., as it can lead to more serious problems if you don't. We have a 23 mo. old in our family who has about 8 cavities, she recently had two (2) capped, got through it (with gas) with no problem. Good luck to you.

Answer 7

I had three cavities and never had any pain either. It was terrifying, but after getting them done I realized it wasn't that bad. Just tell her once it gets she will be gorgeous. And don't feel bad because your daughter has cavities. Almost everybody gets cavities. It's a part of life. I would get them all done as soon as possible so there are less visits she has to worry about.

Good luck!

Answer 8

Two at a time, should be bearable! Yes, the trauma effect can be reduced by visualisation method recommended and practised by NLP people: in brief, what it means, is you talk to her in a way that helps her to visualise the future experience of dental chair as not-too-bad, the visualisation being done a few times in the days previous to the dental appointment. Good luck!

Answer 9

learn the lesson now - brush teeth twice daily

depends on where they are - if all on one side - do as many as you can to ease the trauma of the work -

and relax - these are the baby teeth

take care of the adults ones better

I was the opposite - my babies were great - so when I got my adults - I didn't have to brush
ha ha h ah ah ahahaha ah a crown crown root canal

b r u s h and get regular check ups

Answer 10

I agree with Dr. Swanson and I would suggest that you might let Dad take her to the dentist if he is not as upset as you obviously are.