I need some advice about my five year old daughter. I do brush her teeth like I’m supposed to and we do floss, but she has trouble cooperating at the dentist. I don’t know if that is what has led to her having six cavities now, but I’m feeling desperate. Four of those six cavities are on molars. Two of those teeth have lost about 30% of their structure. I don’t know what to do. Whenever the dentist tries to work on their teeth, she flips out, flails her arms, and even runs out of the room. I’m at my wits end. I know that tooth infections are dangerous and I don’t want her at risk.
Lyric
Dear Lyric,
I’m glad you wrote. I can tell that you love your daughter very much and are worried about her. You have good cause to be concerned. You don’t want her decay to blow up into a serious tooth infection. When left untreated these type of infections become life threatening because they will continue to spread throughout her body.
First, she needs to get the treatment she needs. When a patient is that uncooperative, and believe me it is not just children that can behave that way, it is often because of dental fear. When anxiety is strong enough, it can make someone act in an unreasonable manner because they are in a panic.
My suggestion for patients in this situation, is that they see a dentist who offers dental sedation. In your case, it would also need to be a dentist who treats young children. This will relax your daughter so much that her anxiety won’t be an issue. In fact, most patients sleep through their procedure, though they don’t have to.
Make sure if she ends up losing one of those back molars that the dentist places a space maintainer there. She needs that spot reserved until she is about twelve or it will lead to orthodontic problems that you’ll want to avoid.
What Is Leading to this Excessive Decay?
It sounds like your oral health care for her at home is fine and that you’re trying to get her regular dental care. With all of that effort, the amount of decay she has at her age is disproportionate. That leads me to believe that she may either be a frequent snacker, drink a lot of juice / soda throughout the day, or both.
Most people are unaware that one of the biggest defenses against decay is your saliva. However it does not have enough time to do its job if there is a lot of snacking or sugary drinks being consumed. You may have to give her some tough love and limit her to one snack a day. I’d also stick to water for the majority of her drinking.
This blog is brought to you by West Seneca Dentist Dr. Carl Embury.