I'm just recently found MDC and have been lurking. Your post made me go get an account to reply! ANyway I have a daughter who was also diagnosed with tooth decay on the 4 upper front teeth when she was 18 months old. The dentist told us we needed to have her put to sleep in the hospital and have the teeth capped. That's not the route we chose to take.
We also decided not to do the flouride treatments (except the first one, I was too stunned and shocked that my kid needed to go be put to sleep to help her teeth to even put up a fight). Anyway, after visiting 3 other dentists, they all agreed with our first doc. The worst thing is that they all decided it needed to be done pretty quickly.
We decided to take a "wait and see" approach. If the teeth got bad enough, we decided we would pull them, which is less traumatic to the child and the jaw (according to the dentist). We did some research on how losing the front teeth early impacts speech development (turns out they may show slight delays, but catch up quickly).
Then we discovered Xylitol. A wonder product! We use SPry toothpaste and mouthwash (when I can get the mouthwash, it's hard to find here). Pretty sure I ordered off of Amazon.com the first time. We also use Spiffies toothwipes - these make a great difference if you can remember to do it regularly. And we also started flossing - get one of those little handheld devices that you load the floss onto, it's easier to get into the mouth than your hand.
When we went back to the dentist for a 3 month followup the dentist was shocked that we had no additional decay. I mentioned the xylitol and he starts up about what a great product he thinks it is. I was mad, why didn't he mention it? He says it isn't like flouride, isn't tested here, etc, etc. Still, I think he could have helped me out a little. He said keep up with what we are doing and come back in 6 months. There is also xylitol gum, if you can find it with high concentrations of xylitol ( I order Spry gum online), the dentist said to let her chew it all day if she will do that. LOL, of course a toddler and chewing gum is a whole 'nother set of problems.
That was pretty encouraging. DD is almost 3 and we have another appt next week. I think there has been some additinal decay now, but The teeth look good and I don't think there will be any reason to pull them yet. SHe is also almost old enough to sit through the drill, so I could push to have then filled. The dentist did say it usually doesn't hold on the front teeth, but if I get 6 months more out of them, it might be worth it. Haven't made a decision there yet.
There is also Ozone treatment you can look into. I'd have to travel 10 hours to the nearest practioner, but you may be luckier where you are. If you google you should be able to find more info about it. Our dentist encouraged us to look into it, but I honestly haven't had time. It is being used with mixed results in Canada and Europe, but is non-invasive and should not cause any trauma for the kiddo. Might be worth looking into.
So that is my experience. I went from having to pull her teeth or get them capped withint 3 months to her being 3 and still having teeth. I'd say make drastic choices slowly and see how things develop. research xylitol and ozone therapy and see what you come up with. I am much more comfortable using xylitol than flouride.
Good luck,
Amanda
. Thanks for the help.
