My teeth have gotten terrible the last few years, and I'm sure I probably have a number of cavities. The last couple of times I've had fillings I've gotten the white kind instead of the amalgam, but they have shrunk a bit and have staining around the edges. I get black spots on my teeth just like my dad does, and it's not from coffee--I mostly drink water, although I do have a small amount of kombucha fairly frequently and an occasional cup of tea.
The whole family (DH, me, AJ 7 this month, M&M 5.5, Baby E 2.5) have appointments tomorrow, and I'm wondering if there's anything in particular I should try to do differently. For instance, the flouride treatments--are those bad, and if so, why? I know drinking flouride is a problem, but is it ok applied directly to the teeth? Will the dentist let us refuse it if we need to?
Both of my older kids, I think, had fillings last year. DH took them, and he got the amalgam fillings for them because he thought it wasn't worth it to spend more on better fillings for teeth that are just going to fall out eventually anyway.
I'm just wondering what we should watch out for, what questions to ask, and what treatments we should try to avoid. For myself I think I will try to avoid getting any fillings if possible since I'm not in pain, but AJ does have a tooth that's been bothering her so I don't know if we'll be able to avoid filling at least that one.
The whole family (DH, me, AJ 7 this month, M&M 5.5, Baby E 2.5) have appointments tomorrow, and I'm wondering if there's anything in particular I should try to do differently. For instance, the flouride treatments--are those bad, and if so, why? I know drinking flouride is a problem, but is it ok applied directly to the teeth? Will the dentist let us refuse it if we need to?
Both of my older kids, I think, had fillings last year. DH took them, and he got the amalgam fillings for them because he thought it wasn't worth it to spend more on better fillings for teeth that are just going to fall out eventually anyway.
I'm just wondering what we should watch out for, what questions to ask, and what treatments we should try to avoid. For myself I think I will try to avoid getting any fillings if possible since I'm not in pain, but AJ does have a tooth that's been bothering her so I don't know if we'll be able to avoid filling at least that one.
