decay in baby teeth

flea72

have just noticed my dd has a massive black hole in the side of one of her back teeth, in fact it looks like half the tooth is missing

i brush her teeth twice a day, but tbh i must admit i dont really look inside her mouth whilst doing it, so hadnt noticed this before. she has no plaque at all on any of her front teeth, so i just assumed that i was cleaning them properly. but its that big and black i cant see how i havent noticed it before

could i have missed this one back tooth whilst brushing, to that extent that this has happened at such a young age? (shes 3)

she does grind her teeth in her sleep, so could she have knocked off a big lump, and this is why it has gone rotten so quickly. could she just have weak teeth? she does have immune problems, so is this just another part of that?

my biggest problem tho, is she is a very shy child and will not let a dentist look inside her mouth. she has been coming to the dentist with us since she was born, but as soon as they ask to look inside her mouth she clamps shut, and just cries. no amount of coaxing on the part of the dentist, or offer of stickers, etc. works, she just will not let them look inside her mouth

ive heard that if the baby teeth are rotten, then the adult teeth underneath will most likely come through damaged too. i cant believe i havent noticed this before

any ideas on what i can do? even if its just tips on getting her to calm down at the dentist so he can look at her teeth

F

Toothsmith

Decay in baby teeth won't affect the adult ones, so there's one worry less.

Toothbrushing introduces a bit of fluoride into the mouth and onto the teeth (providing you're using an adult one with a decent amount of fluoride in, and not a 'low fluoride' kids one - which I hate!), but other than that, toothbrushing DOES NOT stop decay.

Decay is caused by the acid that bacteria produce when they digest sugar. (well that's the most accepted theory - there are others). This acid begins to break down the tooth enamel, and that starts the whole process.

The mouth can defend itself against a few acid attacks, but if they happen frequently, then teeth will dissolve.

It only takes a tiny bit of sugar to feed the bacteria and cause them to produce acid.

So - tooth decay is all down to how frequently little bits of sugar go into the mouth, not how much sugar in total any particular child eats.

Kids with decay will be having frequent small (or sometimes large) amounts of sugar.

The thing I like to get across to parents is that they shouldn't worry at all about what their kids are eating or drinking at mealtimes. In fact, if they are given sweets (at school or by grandparents) then they should save them up, and have them at a mealtime after the 'proper' food and all as part of the same 'sugar attack'. The, in between meals, really be strict. If they must eat anything, make sure it doesn't have sugar in it. If they drink, make sure it's milk or water. These are the ONLY 'safe' drinks.

If kids have plenty to eat at mealtimes though, there should be no need to snack in between. In fact snacking can get into a vicious circle and make them less hungry at mealtimes, which leads to less food eaten, which makes them want a snack soon afterwards.

As for the dentist bit - that's for you and the dentist to work on. How old is she?

There are some good children's story books that are about trips to the dentist (I personally hate the ones that go on to describe injections and drilling though - the kid doesn't need to see that). I would just make it as low-key and matter of fact as possible.

If it's not hurting then at least you have time It might not even be a filling. It could be just staining, I even had a patient come in with a child once and it just turned out to be a bit of raisin stuck in the groves of the tooth.

But get her in and get it looked at.

EDIT - Just seen her age in your post!

iamana1ias

Toothsmith wrote: »

Decay in baby teeth won't affect the adult ones, so there's one worry less.

Hmmmmm. I was very poorly as a child, but had to wait several years for a tonsillectomy, which I finally had at age 6, In the meantime I was put on some nasty medicine which was basically a sugar syrup carrier for the drugs which completely rotted my baby teeth.

When my adult teeth came through, the enamel was not hard enough to support the teeth, and all of my back teeth crumbled as they emerged. I had to have quite a lot of yucky treatment to strengthen them.

I suppose it's possible that the drug itself did the damage (I don't know what it was) rather than the sugar, but I can't see anyway that the sugar could not also have had an effect?

Toothsmith

For decay to occur, you need 3 things: Sugar, bacteria and a tooth.

The bacteria don't exist in sufficient quantity below the gum when the teeth are unerrupted, and neither will the sugar penetrate down there (If sugar carried in the blood rotted teeth, then we'd all have rotten teeth).

So the decayed baby teeth won't have rotted your adult ones. Plus, the first adult molars come through behind all the baby teeth. It's the premolars that are below the baby molars.

My guess is that the decay process from the syrupy medicine was still active whilst the first adult molars were coming through(Which could easily have been a few months before you were 6), so it will just have been the same decay process going on, but starting just as the teeth broke the surface, making it look lke they were coming through rotten.

peachyprice

OP, some children have very weak baby teeth that need extra care, it won't help that she won't let the dentist see, but it doesn't mean her adult teeth will be damage or weak.

One of my sons had very week teeth, when he was about 5 I took him for his regular check up, all was fine, six weeks later I was checking his teeth and 4 had decayed in that short time. I took him back to the dentist who had never seen a child whose teeth that decayed so quickly, he didn't have a lot of sugary snacks in his diet as his brother was a bit, shall we say, chunky, so sweets really were a rare treat. He ended up have 8 fillings under sedation, poor baby.

When his adult teeth came the dentist sealed the molars as soon as they were through, but they are fine, as strong as anyone elses teeth, just very wonky, but I'm sure that's not related!

You really do need to get her to the dentist, I can't offer any advice as mine have all been fine, although my cousin did get my niece referred to a hospital that specialises in treating nervous patients, it's been a long slog but she's able to go to the normal dentist now without too much trauma.

flea72

Toothsmith wrote: »

The thing I like to get across to parents is that they shouldn't worry at all about what their kids are eating or drinking at mealtimes. In fact, if they are given sweets (at school or by grandparents) then they should save them up, and have them at a mealtime after the 'proper' food and all as part of the same 'sugar attack'. The, in between meals, really be strict. If they must eat anything, make sure it doesn't have sugar in it. If they drink, make sure it's milk or water. These are the ONLY 'safe' drinks.

If it's not hurting then at least you have time It might not even be a filling. It could be just staining, I even had a patient come in with a child once and it just turned out to be a bit of raisin stuck in the groves of the tooth

see this is why im so surprised. i dont let my kids drink juice, and squash is only given once a day at most, at evening mealtime - tbh as i only drink water myself, i dont think to offer my kids anything else. snacking between meals is limited to fruit, but i suppose thats still sugary

sweet things arent an everyday occurrence in our house either, as we just dont have the money for non-essential foods

no, ive already had a poke at the tooth, as my first thought was it could be a raison lol

i just find it odd that no other tooth is showing any sign of decay, or even build up of plaque, but this one tooth is more or less totally rotted away

think im going to have to somehow get her to the dentist

thanks for your input

F

alessev1

I had the same problem with two of my children.
My third boy is nearly 2 and have his front four teeth literally flaking away.
Took him to the dentist and it came as a condition: Hypocalcification. Check on the internet for more info, but is usually developmental.
Hope this help!

Toothsmith

Peachyprice - things don't happen that quickly.

Things will have been missed/ignored at that check-up and dentist was 'surprised' to cover his own backside!

Flea - you need to look at all the places your daughter might be getting stuff. Nursery? Grandparents? Childminders? Teeth need sugar to rot. (Normal fruit is probably safe unless it's VERY frequent - dried fruits can cause damage if had a lot). Even 'weak' teeth wouldn't decay if there was no sugar exposure.

Toothsmith

alessev1 wrote: »

I had the same problem with two of my children.
My third boy is nearly 2 and have his front four teeth literally flaking away.
Took him to the dentist and it came as a condition: Hypocalcification. Check on the internet for more info, but is usually developmental.
Hope this help!

It doesn't really affect single teeth. You tend to find several similar teeth are affected.

peachyprice

Toothsmith wrote: »

Peachyprice - things don't happen that quickly.

Things will have been missed/ignored at that check-up and dentist was 'surprised' to cover his own backside!

Sorry, that doesn't make sense.

One day has to be the first day of decay, whether that's 6 days, 6 weeks, 6 months after a check up. You can't see decay before it's started and at the time of the check-up it hadn't.

When I noticed it it was only at the very early stages, very fine darkish lines in the 'creases' of the teeth that could easily be mistaken for food, not full blown holes and rot!

I don't believe for one minute that she missed anything, she's an excellent dentist and family friend and would certainly never have ignored anything wrong with my childrens teeth, if anything she's even more thorough with us.

flea72

Toothsmith wrote: »

Flea - you need to look at all the places your daughter might be getting stuff. Nursery? Grandparents? Childminders? Teeth need sugar to rot. (Normal fruit is probably safe unless it's VERY frequent - dried fruits can cause damage if had a lot). Even 'weak' teeth wouldn't decay if there was no sugar exposure.

shes only out of my control two days a week when she goes to pre-school and they have a healthy eating policy, but i suppose that means they might not have a healthy drinking policy

with 2 other children, who have all their adult teeth and not a single filling, im still quite shocked tbh that this has happened at such a young age with my 3rd

have now booked her in with the dentist, will have to wait and see what happens on the day - thanks again

F