Argh. We took my 2.75yo to the dentist today for a consult, and it didn't go well (that's putting it lightly).
When he saw the room, he refused to even go in it. The nurse got him in by showing him the goody box. He'd only sit in the chair, if I was sitting on it and he was on my lap. He let the dentist look in his mouth (after some coaxing and the dr. making a dog out of a balloon
), but REFUSED to let the hygienist clean his teeth. She was very nice, and explained everything to him, let him pick out his prize first, etc. I really like the way both of them treated him.
So anyways, he has 3 cavities. The dentist said that he won't give midazolam (Versed, I think) to kids that young (he said it usually just makes things worse). So he recommended putting a filling over the cavities, without drilling, freezing, needles, etc. He said it would take 5 minutes.
I asked if it would cause the cavities to spread, and he said it was a fluoridated filling (?) and that it would harden the decay so it wouldn't spread at all, basically would kill it. This would be a temporary thing until we can get to the point that we can either use sedation, or ds will allow dental work.
Is this type of filling a good idea?
I don't use fluoridated toothpaste for ds, and am not a fan of fluoride in water. But I can't say I'm terribly opposed to fluoride directly applied to teeth, especially in this case where ds has bad teeth, kwim?
I guess we'd have to try really hard to talk ds into letting the dentist work in his mouth. That is a possibility, because he did let the dentist look in and count his teeth, etc. But there's also a good chance that we'd have to hold ds down for it, too. The dentist said that we would definitely be allowed in the room the whole time, and we could help hold ds, or not depending on our preference (I'm sure ds would prefer me to hold him). And that if it got too bad, we could stop at any time.
I am not too awfully opposed to holding ds down (its not something I want to do, but I've done it in the past to brush his teeth a couple times, kwim?).
But I'm very concerned that if we hold him down, that the next time at the dentist will be even worse.
Ftr, he had a cavity filled when he was about 18 mos, and that's what we did. He sat in my lap, head on the dentists lap, and I held his hands down. It was SUPER quick, but ds was quite unhappy with it. I figured there was no way he would remember from that age, but maybe he did?
Our other option is to go to another pediatric dentist, and use some kind of sedation. They told me that they use different types. This other dental group is adamently against restraining kids (I talked to the receptionist). I dunno though, about using sedation (I imagine he'd have to be pretty sedated to have the cavities drilled, etc), when we can do a temporary thing with 5 minutes of pain-free work, possibly (probably?) holding him down.
Help! OH, and would it help at all for us to use rescue remedy or something?
When he saw the room, he refused to even go in it. The nurse got him in by showing him the goody box. He'd only sit in the chair, if I was sitting on it and he was on my lap. He let the dentist look in his mouth (after some coaxing and the dr. making a dog out of a balloon
), but REFUSED to let the hygienist clean his teeth. She was very nice, and explained everything to him, let him pick out his prize first, etc. I really like the way both of them treated him.So anyways, he has 3 cavities. The dentist said that he won't give midazolam (Versed, I think) to kids that young (he said it usually just makes things worse). So he recommended putting a filling over the cavities, without drilling, freezing, needles, etc. He said it would take 5 minutes.
I asked if it would cause the cavities to spread, and he said it was a fluoridated filling (?) and that it would harden the decay so it wouldn't spread at all, basically would kill it. This would be a temporary thing until we can get to the point that we can either use sedation, or ds will allow dental work.
Is this type of filling a good idea?
I don't use fluoridated toothpaste for ds, and am not a fan of fluoride in water. But I can't say I'm terribly opposed to fluoride directly applied to teeth, especially in this case where ds has bad teeth, kwim?
I guess we'd have to try really hard to talk ds into letting the dentist work in his mouth. That is a possibility, because he did let the dentist look in and count his teeth, etc. But there's also a good chance that we'd have to hold ds down for it, too. The dentist said that we would definitely be allowed in the room the whole time, and we could help hold ds, or not depending on our preference (I'm sure ds would prefer me to hold him). And that if it got too bad, we could stop at any time.
I am not too awfully opposed to holding ds down (its not something I want to do, but I've done it in the past to brush his teeth a couple times, kwim?).
But I'm very concerned that if we hold him down, that the next time at the dentist will be even worse.
Ftr, he had a cavity filled when he was about 18 mos, and that's what we did. He sat in my lap, head on the dentists lap, and I held his hands down. It was SUPER quick, but ds was quite unhappy with it. I figured there was no way he would remember from that age, but maybe he did?
Our other option is to go to another pediatric dentist, and use some kind of sedation. They told me that they use different types. This other dental group is adamently against restraining kids (I talked to the receptionist). I dunno though, about using sedation (I imagine he'd have to be pretty sedated to have the cavities drilled, etc), when we can do a temporary thing with 5 minutes of pain-free work, possibly (probably?) holding him down.
Help! OH, and would it help at all for us to use rescue remedy or something?
