I took DD (24 months) into a ped. dentist this morning after I've been paying close attention to her teeth and had some concerns, AND after just finding out that my DH's siblings (not sure about him) all had dental issues right from the start. My concerns were with her top front 4 teeth, I figured she surely had a cavity in one.
Well, she did amazingly well at the dentist...I left in tears, though.
She DOES have a cavity on the tooth I suspected and very early signs of possible ones on the other 3, but he said that with all of those, he can see proper growth of tooth ABOVE the problem areas which shows that they aren't progressing and that something we did in the past 6 months or so changed it for our benefit (umm...ironically that'd be when we nightweaned. ). He commended us on not using flouride (and said he actually recommends the Spry infant tooth gel that we use) and on taking great care of her teeth. And then he check her molars....
3 have cavities! I feel sick, like an awful mother. I watch what she eats, I'm picky about how much sugar she gets, we brush well, she takes CLO/vit D, etc. He said it could be anything that caused it, and that these 3 are likely there just because of the one that started on her front tooth (the bacteria came from that one first). Good news was that he said her case is really minor, and that most kids in her shoes would have been in months ago with 10x as many problems. So he didn't seem really concerned. However, he said he only does dental work on kids this young as an outpatient procedure. He said he'd fill those 3 cavities and the top one since he was doing it anyway (had she not had the other 3 he wouldn't have done anything) and then he'd put a tiny bit of sealant in her other teeth and just try to take whatever preventative measures he could during the process.
Okay, so it makes me want to throw up. Mostly because she's already been under general anesthesia once in her young life (at 9 months for a surgery to remove a lipoma near her spine). I don't want to have to do that to her again. AND it's going to cost us about $3-3500 since we don't have dental insurance (and despite being really low income, we don't have gov't assistance either).
I don't know if I'm just looking for someone to tell me it's okay or what. I just feel sick, like I've let my little girl down. My MIL is calling around to get some other ideas (other hospitals, other dentists, etc) because I couldn't do it, and thankfully she reminded me that my SIL had this done at DD's age, too, so it's not MY fault and is nearly positively genetics. But still...
Well, she did amazingly well at the dentist...I left in tears, though.
She DOES have a cavity on the tooth I suspected and very early signs of possible ones on the other 3, but he said that with all of those, he can see proper growth of tooth ABOVE the problem areas which shows that they aren't progressing and that something we did in the past 6 months or so changed it for our benefit (umm...ironically that'd be when we nightweaned. ). He commended us on not using flouride (and said he actually recommends the Spry infant tooth gel that we use) and on taking great care of her teeth. And then he check her molars.... 3 have cavities!
I feel sick, like an awful mother. I watch what she eats, I'm picky about how much sugar she gets, we brush well, she takes CLO/vit D, etc. He said it could be anything that caused it, and that these 3 are likely there just because of the one that started on her front tooth (the bacteria came from that one first). Good news was that he said her case is really minor, and that most kids in her shoes would have been in months ago with 10x as many problems. So he didn't seem really concerned. However, he said he only does dental work on kids this young as an outpatient procedure. He said he'd fill those 3 cavities and the top one since he was doing it anyway (had she not had the other 3 he wouldn't have done anything) and then he'd put a tiny bit of sealant in her other teeth and just try to take whatever preventative measures he could during the process.Okay, so it makes me want to throw up. Mostly because she's already been under general anesthesia once in her young life (at 9 months for a surgery to remove a lipoma near her spine). I don't want to have to do that to her again. AND it's going to cost us about $3-3500 since we don't have dental insurance (and despite being really low income, we don't have gov't assistance either).
I don't know if I'm just looking for someone to tell me it's okay or what. I just feel sick, like I've let my little girl down.
My MIL is calling around to get some other ideas (other hospitals, other dentists, etc) because I couldn't do it, and thankfully she reminded me that my SIL had this done at DD's age, too, so it's not MY fault and is nearly positively genetics. But still...
s I am so sorry you are having to go through this. I would seek a second opinion though just incase something else can be done.
My son has got my teeth, all I can hope is his adult teeth have a better chance.
-what an awful mom, what could I have done better....What more could we have done
1babysmom. I know how horrible it feels to discover decay in your baby's mouth 
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