My Son's Baby Teeth

These are baby teeth. When my grandson had the procedure it was awful and he was really sick afterwards. I think these dentists are madmen with an eye to their bank accounts rather than real health.
Baby teeth are not meant to last.
If you want his new teeth to last take sugar out of his diet totally. That means to have to read every label and make most food from scratch.
My daughters have had three fillings between them due to a healthy diet devoid of sugar.

Yes, they are safe. I would have said, had this been a post asking if the work should be done...that you needed to find a pediatric dentist that would put him to sleep to do the work. That would have been more humane. In this case they may not have felt they had time.

Flossing may not have made any difference at all. He may have weak enamel that would have created cavities anyway.

The material they use nowadays is very safe. They have used it for years. Our pediatric dentist only uses white material if at all possible to use anything else. He does use silver when the teeth are molars so that crunching stuff and chewing does not mess them up too quickly.

My daughter had to have her whole mouth done and the top 4 teeth removed due to no enamel. Dentist said it happened on the womb. Anyhow, we tried the laughing gas route and she wasn't having it ( she was 3) so we rescheduled and she had conscious sedation with a iv and such. It was bad on me but a breeze for her. She still likes the dentist. He must of bern terrified. You we're in a emergency situation and you handled it the best you could. Don't beat yourself up. In the future I would suggest a different Dentist. Mine would never tie a child down to a bed! That's archaic imo. As for the metal, my daughter has silver caps on her back teeth and porcelain on metal for the front. Our dentist said they are safe and I trust him 100%.

I know of other cases like this and they are now saying it has to be done to baby teeth and I, not being a dentist think 'why?' when the teeth will come out soon? Personally I would not do it. I have a terrible dread of dentists just from fillings in teeth that were permanent ones when I was your sons age. I would have gotten at least one other opinion and probably have gone a few at a time although we have experienced this with a grandchild and it killed me to see it but maybe it will be for his good. Just as a mother/grandmother I would not have done it. I know this isn't a comfort but just be glad it's over and hope it helps. In the future get many opinions as there are sometimes much less traumatic options. Sometimes it's not just the flossing or brushing that's the problem but heredity, diet, etc. I would try to find out which or how many of these things were a factor to avoid them with his adult teeth.

I am surprised all that work on a kid wasn't done in a hospital like setting so that they could "put him out". He is going to always hate the dentist-wouldn't you? They strapped him down? that is craaazy.

I agree with some other moms on here - that much work should have been done at a hospital with him sleeping. My one son had issues with his, and at 3 yrs old he had to have 10 caps put on... I didn't even let them try the strapping down. We were scheduled at the hospital for "surgery". It took them almost 3 hours to do all the work, which was scary for me cause I keep seeing all these other doctors talk to the other parents and them leave while my kid was still in there. But all in all, it was done & it only took about a little over a week for him to heal and be eating normal again well it did take a little longer to relearn to use his back teeth with meat. But the best part is he is not afraid to go to the dentist.

Although it is too late for this, next time ask for pre-visit sedation. It is usually a medicine that calms them before they go to the dentist.

My son had a lot of problems with his baby teeth, also... and I was not very good about brushing or flossing when he was young, either. Our dentist was really good, though... he had the root canals done when he was just a few years old, but it wasn't near as traumatic..... it was done with our regular dentist, in a regular chair... they used nitrous oxide to calm him, and he just sat there and listened to a cassette player. He even dozed off in the dentist chair! We didn't use any pre-visit sedation, although I know some people request that.

One thing to watch out for would be the sticky treats.... people think of raisins as a healthy snack, but the stickiness keeps that sugar on the teeth far longer. I think cheese is supposed to be a good snack, because it raises the acidity in the mouth, making it harder for the bacteria that cause cavities to thrive. (I'm just going from memory on this one...)