Urgh! Cavity in baby tooth..help

I need help regarding my daughter's cavity in her baby tooth molar....

We just went to the dentist for my 4-1/2 year old daughter's second teeth cleaning. I am anti-fluordide because of its anti-thyroid nature. I suffer from hypothyroidism and I don't want to do anything that will threaten my daughter's thyroid. My dentist of course gives me grief and actually insinuated that a mouth full of cavities would be worse than thyroid disease and he wasn't even giving credit to the possibility of fluoride being at all harmful...my pediatrician is pushing fluoride pills on my 10 month old... and I am not biting.

The big annoyance is that my 4-1/2 year old has a cavity. We brush morning and night together...I will admit there have been some days where she brushes without my follow up and when we went camping I think we only managed to get the morning teeth brushing done. Her teeth are beautifully spaced. We don't floss because the dentist didn't recommend it on delicate kids gums. I think I will now.

Now here's what really turned my stomach....the dentist wants to put a "silver" (as he called it) amalgam filling because it's "easier" and "stronger." I am pretty much an in a state of anxiety over this. I live in the mountains in Mariposa,CA ...but am from Santa Cruz/SF/Marin areas and can gladly travel to find a more holistic dentist for my children. Does anyone in California Bay Area know of a good mercury-free dentist for children or adults???

It's so frustrating! The dentist here wasn't even going to cover my daughter's neck before x-raying her mouth...I had to ask..."aren't you going to cover her neck?" they didn't even have a neck guard..my daughter had to hold the heavy shield up over her neck. I need a new dentist!

Stressed over baby teeth,
Katherine

PS - my daughter had mono two months ago and she was cursed with lead poisoning because of a rental we lived in for a month and a half before we flew out of that poison house. I wonder if either or both of these misfortunes caused a weakened tooth environment where it was easier for a cavity to flourish? I can't get a dentist to hypothesis of course.....I just know that lead displaces nutrients and also the mono caused dehydration and malnurishment for several weeks. It was terrible. Sigh....literally.....but maybe cavities are more common? Let me know...

 

Fluoride PILLS?

 

do things to help her as well which im sure you are cut out ALL sugar, watch for things that you oight not think have sugar but do like baked beans!!! etc. ermm i will think of more things

 

well, sometimes it's just the kid, not what you're feeding them or how many times you brush. my two oldest kids have completely different teeth - my oldest has never had a cavity, and my second oldest had 6 at 4 years old. same oral hygene routine, same foods. so at 4 years old, my son levi had to have a tooth extracted - it was that bad. they made a thing called a spacer and glued it onto the tooth behind it to keep the teeth from floating into the spot. then we went back and they did a pulpectomy on another tooth, kinda like a baby root canal. the doc put a cap over that tooth so he wouldn't be missing two molars - i figured it would be hard enough for him to eat with one tooth missing. then fillings for all the other cavities, and sealants for both kids. no insurance either.... but i had a damn good doc, he only sees kids - i wish he'd take care of my teeth!! worth every penny. when levi had his tooth extracted the doc was so careful not to hurt him that levi looked forward to his next visit! he still loves going to the dentist, even after all that work he had to have done.

so anyways, don't beat yourself up about it - teeth are inherited, i have soft teeth and they're full of fillings, my x had good teeth & no cavities. change dentists, there's lots of good ones out there that specialize in children. i pay extra so my kids aren't traumatized - i still have horrible teeth cuz i can't force myself to go to the dentist regular.

 

Gr8ful is right. Every child is different. My mother brushes all the time, always has, and she suffers from so many tooth problems, that she's gone into debt because of it.

Whereas I have always been really lax about brushing my own teeth. As a young (and very grody) teenager, I might go three or four days....err, weeks sometimes...without brushing at all. At every dentist appointment though, I NEVER had cavities or any other problem.

 

My little guy had a black spot on one of his molars. I took him to a dentist that was supposed to be good with kids. They strapped him to a board so he couldn't move and gave him a root canel. He was not even three years old yet. They didn't talk to him at all except for one nurse who kept telling him that if he didn't be quiet his mama was going to leave him and his mama was going to make him spend the night with them. I was horrified. He will never go back to that dentist again. My son was terrified. And when they got all done they put the floride goop on this teeth before I could even stop them. They didn't listen to a thing I said. They did put in a white filling after I said no silver. But they charged me over $200 on top of what the insurance paid.

Kathi

 

oh. my. god. that sounds just horrid Kathi. i was recommended the dentist my kids go to, and when you walk into the place you can tell it's for kids. they have a big open room where they have 4 kid sized chairs set up to do cleanings, so my kids can sit next to each other. lots of stuffed animals, fish tanks, toys - even the x-ray area is nice, they use full aprons on the kids to protect them. when levi got his extraction done when he was 4, he didn't even KNOW the doc gave him a shot of novicane cuz they numbed his gums up good with the gel stuff first, and they had the 'laughy gas' breather thing on his nose so he couldn't even see the needle. that guy was slick - he's great. for levi's pulpectomy (root canal) i only paid $200 total, another $200 for the extraction and the spacer that they custom made for him. and he let me make payments cuz he knew i was paying cash, no insurance.

damn, i lucked out!

here's a site you might wanna try to start to find a new doc katho... www.dentists4kids.com

 

i experienced a simalar horror story with a dentist i took my oldest to. she had very soft teeth and had 2-3 cavities before 3. it was so horrible having her go through the experience with that dentist. i looked for a dentist for a while after that. and the one i found was great we drove nearly an hour to get there but it was worth it. i just would schedule all there appointment together and make a day of it.

 

I have been researching ...of course... and I found some other materials that could be used as fillings instead of amalgam. I did learn that the reason they don't want to do porcelain/composite on baby teeth is because they need to be absolutely dry and that is apparently impossible with young children...I can understand that.


I found two alternatives that I am going to discuss with dentists next week.

1. IRM - Intermediate Restorative Material - zinc oxide-eugenol [clove oil] with polymer reinforcement. http://www.dentsply.com/default.aspx?pageid=354

2. ZOE - B&T - ZOE B&T cement is zinc oxide-eugenol with polymer reinforcement. http://www.dentsply.com/default.aspx?pageid=335

Both of these are used primarily as temporary fillings. This is perfect because the baby teeth will be falling out anyway. They are strong and have lasted longer than one year. They dry quickly too. I guess the military used these as temps and it was discovered they actually last a long time. The ZOE says it can be used on baby teeth!!!

There's hope yet. If fluoride didn't suppress thyroid function I would be giving it to both my kids for sure. I have to wade through the poisons......

Thanks for the replies. I am feeling much more hopeful. I spoke to a dentist office that doesn't use mercury at all (but doesn't take children) and she said she was glad to hear a parent that was making the decision to not use mercury in their child's mouth. She told me I basically just have to find a way to remove the decay and seal the tooth from further decay until the baby tooth falls out naturally. She was the one that told me to look into temporary materials because baby teeth are temporary anyways.

If you couldn't tell I am toxin-phobic! We have had run-ins with poisons I don't like it one bit!

I'll post back what I learn about these materials. One thing I have learned over the years is that I don't trust doctors completely. I have to learn everything myself beforehand...otherwise they will do something to me or my family that I will regret. I am not dissing docs necessarily, I just think they are often, stuck in their ways, afraid of lawsuits, bitter, overworked, etc...I am much to alternative and I drive them absolutely crazy most of the time. I vaccinated my baby one shot at a time and that was a big to-do at first...the health department grew to love me because they saw me twice a month!

 

my temporary filling just lasted from 1997 till now when I bit into a fantail and a bit came out (bloody fantail lollies...they are the worst for it!)...which the doctor said when looking at it seemed to be due to a new cavity rather than the temp filling giving it up! So go the temp filling...it should last long enugh in a little ones mouth...unless there are some health reasons not to do that which I don't know of...

 

I have a lot of so called "temp"fillings, one that I had in babytooth even lasted longer then the silver one I had another babytooth.