Update #17 Big dental issues in my DD1 and I'm freaking.

Do you have any dentist you feel you can truly trust, not necessarily to do the heavy work, but to look and say yes this needs to be done? When I was in my very early 20s i started having a sensitive spot. I'd never had a cavity in my life (I'd had one shallow filling in a wisdom tooth because of a pit issue and skin flap that made it at high risk for decay so opted for that rather than extracting the tooth but no true cavities). I had moved several states away from the dentist I'd seen most of my life so I went to the chain type dental place my job insurance covered and this dentist tells me I had 15 total cavities that I needed to fill ASAP! I was freaking out and in tears. He says we will just do one side, the less involved side, and that I'll come back for the other. He does 5 (mercury) fillings and places a few sealants on the "few non involved teeth" and send me home. My mom called that night and I told her the story and she immediately told me not to go back and suggested I see my old dentist when I came back for a wedding 6 weeks from then. I did and not only were there NOT 10 cavities on the unfilled side, but he found zero evidence on my X-rays of any decay on the filled teeth. I am still furious 15 years later! He said it seemed this dentist was filling any deeper crevice that had any amount of staining in it and that it is a "very aggressive approach" and that he hesitates to call any licensed professional a "quack" but in this case.... After that I saw my old dentist for 7 years until he retired. I literally traveled 1000 miles for dental check ups and never had another issue till 2 years ago after ds3, when I got a cavity in a wisdom tooth. I just made sure to get back "home" at least once ever 8-9 months.

I think dentists are like car repair guys. You don't really KNoW if they're telling the truth or exaggerating to mKe money and it's easy for them to scare us into just paying up. It's possible they are trying to catch every possible issue because you're doing anesthesia and they want to be thorough while they're in there but I'd really have serious doubts about that diagnosis. Your poor DD. :(

Have you tried any of the remineralizing tooth pastes? There's a great product called Novamin that rebuild enamel. My teeth were a mess of sensitivity and receding gums after my last pregnancy and 8 months later my hygienist had to triple check the chart they had improved so much. Sadly, GSK bought out the mfr and refuses to allow any US consumer products to continue using it but there's a sensodyne product in the UK with it and you can still get prescription toothpaste with it (clinpro 5000, which I use but don't prefer because it has crap ton of fluoride and it seems to irritate my gums if I use it every day). I also used Dr. Ellie's system for a while but honestly gave up too soon (and switched to the now discontinued Novamin fluoride free paste) because it is so involved and I had a non sleeping 4 month old so couldn't spend that much thought and time on my teeth. She has a lot of interesting things to say about xylitol though and I still do use the xylitol gum frequently. I was researching tooth healing and remineralization/strengthening and was going to implement so rinses and dietary stuff I found online but the Novamin pastes worked so well that I never did.

Good luck to you and DD. I hope you find a dentist you feel you can trust and get a final word on whether it is necessary or not.

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Originally Posted by calebsmama03

Do you have any dentist you feel you can truly trust, not necessarily to do the heavy work, but to look and say yes this needs to be done? When I was in my very early 20s i started having a sensitive spot. I'd never had a cavity in my life (I'd had one shallow filling in a wisdom tooth because of a pit issue and skin flap that made it at high risk for decay so opted for that rather than extracting the tooth but no true cavities). I had moved several states away from the dentist I'd seen most of my life so I went to the chain type dental place my job insurance covered and this dentist tells me I had 15 total cavities that I needed to fill ASAP! I was freaking out and in tears. He says we will just do one side, the less involved side, and that I'll come back for the other. He does 5 (mercury) fillings and places a few sealants on the "few non involved teeth" and send me home. My mom called that night and I told her the story and she immediately told me not to go back and suggested I see my old dentist when I came back for a wedding 6 weeks from then. I did and not only were there NOT 10 cavities on the unfilled side, but he found zero evidence on my X-rays of any decay on the filled teeth. I am still furious 15 years later! He said it seemed this dentist was filling any deeper crevice that had any amount of staining in it and that it is a "very aggressive approach" and that he hesitates to call any licensed professional a "quack" but in this case.... After that I saw my old dentist for 7 years until he retired. I literally traveled 1000 miles for dental check ups and never had another issue till 2 years ago after ds3, when I got a cavity in a wisdom tooth. I just made sure to get back "home" at least once ever 8-9 months.

I think dentists are like car repair guys. You don't really KNoW if they're telling the truth or exaggerating to mKe money and it's easy for them to scare us into just paying up. It's possible they are trying to catch every possible issue because you're doing anesthesia and they want to be thorough while they're in there but I'd really have serious doubts about that diagnosis. Your poor DD. :(

Have you tried any of the remineralizing tooth pastes? There's a great product called Novamin that rebuild enamel. My teeth were a mess of sensitivity and receding gums after my last pregnancy and 8 months later my hygienist had to triple check the chart they had improved so much. Sadly, GSK bought out the mfr and refuses to allow any US consumer products to continue using it but there's a sensodyne product in the UK with it and you can still get prescription toothpaste with it (clinpro 5000, which I use but don't prefer because it has crap ton of fluoride and it seems to irritate my gums if I use it every day). I also used Dr. Ellie's system for a while but honestly gave up too soon (and switched to the now discontinued Novamin fluoride free paste) because it is so involved and I had a non sleeping 4 month old so couldn't spend that much thought and time on my teeth. She has a lot of interesting things to say about xylitol though and I still do use the xylitol gum frequently. I was researching tooth healing and remineralization/strengthening and was going to implement so rinses and dietary stuff I found online but the Novamin pastes worked so well that I never did.

Good luck to you and DD. I hope you find a dentist you feel you can trust and get a final word on whether it is necessary or not.

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I would definitely look into dietary issues - usually this means that there is a mineral deficiency. Fermented cod liver oil and butter oil are (or a blend) will help add back in needed minerals. Another toothpaste option is called Earthpaste. You can get on Amazon.

some info on remineralization here: http://thepaleomama.com/2013/11/how-...out-dentistry/

I would definitely get a second opinion for all the reasons mentioned above. It can't hurt and might help give you peace of mind with the treatment. I also second looking into mineral deficiencies or other dietary problems that might be contributing to the problem. But first you need to take care of the current issues. Big hugs. These things can be so stressful.

Thanks guys. I have gotten some of the x-rays (still waiting for the rest via email) and the treatment plan. My MIL has a good family friend whose husband is a pediatric dentist and he is going to review things for me. He is highly trusted by MIL (she's known the wife for a long time, they play mahjongg together) and is in another state so he has no hand "in the pot" so to speak. We'll see what he says.
I actually have clinpro toothpaste on hand because it was given to me by my dentist, though I haven't used it regularly because it's pretty gross to use. I have been incorporating some of Dr. Ellie's recommendations into our routine (the xylitol mints are from her website and I switched to the recommended toothpaste and act rinse she likes). I will do some more research about the remineralizing process in regards to DD. Thanks so much!
We are still on the books to have work done on April 9, but depending on what the family friend recommends I am not sure what we will have done. I don't want to lose the spot for that because it's been a long wait, and if my DD does need work done I'd rather do it under anesthesia given her experiences the last few weeks.

Hope you get good news from the family friend! The clinpro is gross till you get used to it but between that and the other discontinued fluoride free one my enamel is so much stronger so it's worth it.

Forgot before to add that I did start a few things for remineralizing teeth by balancing the calcium dependent nutrients, esp vit d, k, a and madnesium. Here's one supplement that combines several and gets good reviews specifically for teeth.
http://www.thedentalessentials.com/T...decay_s/29.htm
Honestly I'd be hesitant to have that much done without first trying some other diet and nutrition things to heal her teeth. I'd never have thought it possible but my experience with minimal effort was prettying great. I can only imaging had I also done more dietary things!
Good luck.

Calebsmama what are you doing for your toothpaste routine? The clinpro is a very high concentration of flouride. So do you alternate that with flouride free? What is the benefit to using both? The clinpro is not recommended for under 12s so I will have to look into it for my dd.

So, I sent the x-rays and treatment plan to family friend pediatric dentist and he said that according to the x-rays he only sees 3 teeth that need any work. I believe that since he is looking at x-rays from her cleaning in October that one of those teeth has already been addressed (and I believe the pediatric dentist here is making the same mistake/issue) so that is one less tooth to work on. So he feels that there are 2 teeth that need to be restored and capped- the tooth that has the cracked filling and currently has a temporary filling and one other tooth. He does not feel the other 4 teeth (2 primary and 2 adult) on the treatment plan show signs of decay in the x-rays and do not need to be worked on.
So, question is, where do I go from here? Go somewhere else? Call the pediatric dentist who is scheduled to do the work under anesthesia and question her? I am going to speak to family friend pediatric dentist this afternoon a bit more (just corresponding via email at this point).

Just wanted to post a final update on this. I spoke with the pedi dentist friend at length and decided to go to someone new for a formal 2nd opinion. We went this morning (over an hour drive away) and this practice felt that the tooth with the cracked filling needed to be pulled and we discussed at length saving vs. pulling it. We are going to pull it. She has another small cavity on the side of one of her adult molars that will be filled as well, and then a lingual arch space maintainer (like a permanent bottom retainer) will be placed. The tooth that was just filled in October will likely not last until it would naturally fall out as it has a large filling, so in the event it needs to be pulled this type of space maintainer will already be in place then.

She also talked about a "syndrome" type of situation on children with weak spots (hypoplastic IIRC) on their 6 year molars, and that it is usually on all 4 molars (though we only have spots on 2 of them currently and are only doing a filling on 1) and that in this "syndrome" there is evidence of difficulty getting fully numb from typical numbing agent doses. Which makes sense as to why she has still been having pain at all the previous dentists trying to fix the tooth. Just want to put that out there if anyone else ends up having to deal with this issue.
All the other teeth are on the "watch" list for the time being and we will just monitor them and hope they make it until they fall out. Phew.
We are going to stick with this new practice and cancel the work at the old one. Hopefully the appointment next week will go smoothly!

That is much better news and I'm so glad you got another opinion! I would like to give these overly aggressive dentists the benefit of the doubt that they are just trying to be thorough but the cynical part of me (and it's a BIG part of me lol ) says it is more about $$$ at the expense of patient care. :( Good luck to you and your DD. Hopefully this will be the past of her struggles. Are they still doing the general anesthesia then?

ETA: I'm so sorry I didn't see your earlier update. Haven't been on this weekend/late last week so I missed that. Glad you saw a different pedo dentist.