Child Going to Dentist....

If the cavity isn't cared for it can actually eat into her jaw bone. Do whatever the dentist reccommends!

Hi KD,

First of all don't make a big deal out of this infront of your child they are nervous enough. If you are nervous they will be as well. As your other readers stated, she is the mother, she needs to listen to what the Dentist says. One thing I would give great consideration to is what type of crown. there are many types to choose from. For one try to avoid the old fashion medal crowns mainly if she has to have more than two. If I remember right you have to bite those down in place and they don't feel very good doing it in the process. If you have to have more than one go with the proclin crown they look more natural. Here is a web site you can look at http://www.animated-teeth.com/dental_crowns/t1_dental_cro... best of luck to you.

T.

We never had to deal with caps or cavities because our 14 yr old daughter has never had a cavity or issue with her teeth, ever.

I do believe in going with the opinion of the Dr.

Our daughter started losing her teeth at age 4 and was completely done with all teeth to come out and back in by age 10, including 12 yr molars. All kids are different, our Dr. said he has about 5 kids in his large practice that lost teeth that early and got perm ones in.

Our Dr. did use sealants on her permanent teeth as they came in to prevent decay as she got older. I highly recommend this procedure. It is about $50/tooth (COVERED BY A LOT OF INSURANCE COMPANIES) and FAR more worth $50 a tooth than having to do root canals, etc for your child.

GOod luck to you.

I had a cap put on one of my teeth when I was little and to be honest, I think it helped prepare me for cavities as an adult. I have no fear of the dentist and never have because I can still remember the cap and how easy it was. I learned at an early age that the dentist is there to help & not hurt.

My son had to have a cap around the time he turned 5. It was no big deal - in fact, my son wanted to go back the next day! The dentist said we not only needed to address the decay, but insure that the space would be held for the adult tooth that would be coming. My son just refers to it as his "shiny tooth."

Good luck!

My advice on this would be to go with the Dentist's opinion as to what might be best, if the mother truly disagrees with the dentist then she needs to seek alternative ways to keep her daughter from having pain and or the teeth falling out, but as a mother with a step mom involved, I would say that its primarily her choice to make.

Ohh, the caps are a must! Yes the teeth will fall out, but it will likely not be before the decay continues and can cause major infections! Really, the dentist will likely do a good job explaining that, so I might wait for that...just so you dont add any stress to an already difficult situation. If you dont feel like he does, then I would ask specific questions, like what can happen etc. Good luck!~A.~

My oldest was about 3 when we realized she had several cavities. Her dentist pulled one of her back teeth and put a spacer in it's place so her teeth would not move together and close up the hole. Her top front teeth also had cavities and we had them fixed. They put the white coating on them so they looked more natural. I will say that the white chipped off a little after a couple of years and you could still see the silver underneath. It depends on how bad the cavities are as to whether they will fix them or just pull them, but I do believe they need to be fixed. If they are about to fall out you could ask and see if the dentist will just pull them. My daughter is now ten and she still has the spacer. The one he pulled is next in line to fall out.
Anyway, I just wanted to tell you our experience and I do believe they need to be fixed. Also, the damage from baby teeth can become bad enough to damage the permanent teeth that haven't grown in yet.

My oldest son had his first cavity at around age 2...his molars were not formed correctly giving cavities an advantage. He went through the procedure so easy and has never had any fear of the dentist. I was wondering if the mom was just planning on letting the cavity go...maybe she doesn't realize that doing that can affect the permanent tooth. If the dentist cleans the cavity out nerves will be exposed and there has to be something put in the cleaned out portion of the tooth. Hopefully the dentist will be able to talk with her. Good luck.
C.

Well to me it would all depend on what teeth they are on and how long she's going to have those teeth. My youngest had to have several caped at age three. I didn't want to do it but the dentist said it would be too long before he would loose those and it was his front teeth too. It also depends on if they are giving her problems too. If it's her front teeth and not hurting you might see if they can do fillings and not caps. But if it's molars she wont loose those for years. My almost 10 year old is just now loosing his first molars within the last 4 months. And he looses teeth early. I would wait and see what the Dr. says and then go from there.

Good luck!

I had to have a cap put on my daughters tooth. I did opt for the cap b/c it was a back tooth that would take a while to lose and could develop into a root problem....like a root canal. You need to see how deep the cavity is and then what tooth and then you can make a choice. I also choose to seal my kids teeth so they woudl not get any further cavities. Good luck!

Listen to the dentist.

I've spent several thousand dollars in my step children's baby teeth - between caps, root canals, cavity fillings - and now braces are coming (on permanent teeth, thank God).

It is what you signed up for.

S.