Ok, so I have custody of my 5 year old nephew (have since he was a baby) and 6 months ago we were told he had 4 cavities in two locations between his molars (so two spots between the teeth where there was a cavity on the side of each tooth...). This wasn't terribly shocking because both of his parents had AWFUL crowding issues and his teeth were crammed together so tight that flossing was probably not being done properly until this wake up call 
They made an appointment to have them filled under GA 4 months later. The thought made me ill but I was assured that he was too young to leave them and too scared to do it without GA. When the appointment came around I ended up having to reschedule due to my pregnancy going waaaaaaay overdue, and the closest available was two months later, which is next week.
Well, in the meantime he just had his 6 month check up and not only did he not have any new cavities, but his existing ones were "no worse than they were 6 months ago" in the words of the dentist. That, combined with the fact that my nephew has started losing baby teeth early (he has lost several and he isn't turning 6 until the end of July) has made me think I really REALLY do NOT need to have these molars filled right now. If they get worse, then we can revisit the issue, but they aren't bothering him and are likely to fall out in a few years...plus they didn't progress for 6 months.
The problem, is that I need to make TOTALLY SURE that this is the right thing to do because of our delicate custody situation. I did call my sister and she didn't really seem to care one way or another, but I know that a court might see refusing to get fillings as medical neglect if we go to court someday. I am not willing to have him put under IV sedation for no reason though and am just going to make sure I have all my reasoning put into the dental records.
Am I doing the right thing? The dental office seemed pretty annoyed with me.
They made an appointment to have them filled under GA 4 months later. The thought made me ill but I was assured that he was too young to leave them and too scared to do it without GA. When the appointment came around I ended up having to reschedule due to my pregnancy going waaaaaaay overdue, and the closest available was two months later, which is next week.
Well, in the meantime he just had his 6 month check up and not only did he not have any new cavities, but his existing ones were "no worse than they were 6 months ago" in the words of the dentist. That, combined with the fact that my nephew has started losing baby teeth early (he has lost several and he isn't turning 6 until the end of July) has made me think I really REALLY do NOT need to have these molars filled right now. If they get worse, then we can revisit the issue, but they aren't bothering him and are likely to fall out in a few years...plus they didn't progress for 6 months.
The problem, is that I need to make TOTALLY SURE that this is the right thing to do because of our delicate custody situation. I did call my sister and she didn't really seem to care one way or another, but I know that a court might see refusing to get fillings as medical neglect if we go to court someday. I am not willing to have him put under IV sedation for no reason though and am just going to make sure I have all my reasoning put into the dental records.
Am I doing the right thing? The dental office seemed pretty annoyed with me.
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