Filling an adult tooth for a 10 year old

Anoneemoose

Hi,

I know this will sound dramatic but I have mum guilts. My son has just had his check up and we’ve been told he needs a filling on one of his back adult teeth. I’m worried it will cause issues in future.

He brushes twice a day, on a morning with me and night on his own. He mainly drinks water at home, with the odd cup of milky tea (and yes, sugar). He does eat some sweets and fruit etc but mostly eats main meals rather than snacks. He’s not a fan of ketchup or sauces so that’s not a cause.

He always has his check ups and he’s never had any issues before.

I know there are some things we can improve (and we will), but is it normal for a hole to appear within the 6 months between visits? It is only small apparently, but that’s not making me feel much better!

Any advice would be appreciated, thank you.

Anoneemoose

Although, when I’ve just looked at his treatment plan for his next appointment it says “Fissure Sealant and Composite Resin”...is that the same as a filling?

lozzy81

I don't know if they are the same but I got my daughters teeth sealed as soon as all the adult molars had come in, I also still have her use disclosing tablets, they show up plaque and where to brush, I buy them in boots, they are great for teaching children how to brush effectively

Anoneemoose

lozzy81 wrote: »

I don't know if they are the same but I got my daughters teeth sealed as soon as all the adult molars had come in, I also still have her use disclosing tablets, they show up plaque and where to brush, I buy them in boots, they are great for teaching children how to brush effectively

Thank you. I think I might have some of those tablets somewhere, so I’ll give them a go too.

I thought my kids had had them sealed but I realise now that it’s just fluoride she brushes on every time. I remember having my teeth all sealed as a kid as well. I think I’ll ask for them all to be done (well, the molars, as you say).

Toothsmith

Fissure sealing & composite resin would strike me as quite a minimal filling.

Yes - these things can appear in 6 months. That's why you have 6 monthly check-ups, but it's easily possible the dentist might have had an eye on it for longer. It's just this time it seems slightly worse than before, so he feels a filling (albeit small) is now justified.

Toothbrushing delivers fluoride from the toothpaste to teeth - but that is really the only way toothbrushing prevents fillings. The main factor in stopping fillings is restricting the frequency of sugar/ acid attacks on the teeth.

The teeth can recover from acid attacks given a good 4-5 hours between attacks. The problems start when even the tiniest bit of sugar creeps into this 'recovery' time. So it's not how much sugar your son is having, but how frequently even tiny bits are being taken.

The rule I give people is eat & drink whatever you want to at a mealtime, but really make sure anything taken between meals is sugar free & not too acidic.

Not always easy with youngsters - but that's the way to avoid future work.

pollypenny

That's interesting, Toothsmith. My grandson started losing his baby teeth at four and now, aged eight, he has most of his adult teeth. And I think he's a hopeless brusher, who doesn't listen. Perhaps I nag.

I thought he'd have an extraction for overcrowding and have a seal by now, especially as they live in America, where dentists big business.

Your post is a good reminder, particularly the sugar, although they rarely have 'candy'. I'll mention it to my son.

brook2jack

Fluoride treatment is as effective as fissure sealants and has replaced fissure sealants because they can be very difficult to place on young children as they need to be very dry to stick .

However you can still get decay even with fluoride treatments, fissure sealants and good toothbrushing because the number one risk factor is diet.

You can eat nothing but sweets for breakfast , lunch and dinner and though your general health wouldn't be good your teeth would be ok.

That's because it is not how much sugar you have it's how often that's dangerous for teeth.

People who graze are most at risk because the little sip of something , the nibble of something means teeth are under attack all day long .

It's not just biscuits,cakes,sweets,fizzy pop that are the problem .

"Healthy " snacks like raisins, fruit yogurt, grain bars , fruit juice, smoothies , have as much or more sugar than sweets and pop. Starchy foods like crisps , corn snacks are converted quickly in the mouth to sugar.

Many foods/snacks have added sugar get used to looking at food labels eg 4/5g of sugar is a teaspoon or sugar cube https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2127461/Secret-sugars-food-From-cubes-salad-16-half-bottled-water-youre-eating-realising-it.html

Anything ending in -ose is sugar eg glucose,fructose etc and will decay teeth.

vacheron

Anoneemoose wrote: »

Hi,
..............I know there are some things we can improve (and we will), but is it normal for a hole to appear within the 6 months between visits? It is only small apparently, but that’s not making me feel much better!

Any advice would be appreciated, thank you.

I believe that some people simply have weaker teeth than others, or some may have teeth which have formed with small fissures in the enamel through which acid can creep and decay can form.

Some kids (and adults) with the best dental routine can require many fillings at a young age, and others who are far more apathetic regarding tooth hygeine and brushing may require far less.

My personal tale below, feel free to skip.

I currently do not have a single filling, and haven't visited a dentist in over 20 years. Have no signs of encroaching decay and have no tooth problems, discomfort, gum disease or bad breath.

The reason I say I don't "currently" have any fillings is that I did have ONE solitary filling in my entire life.....

I had checkups through my childhood and when I was about 11 my "old school" dentist noticed a tiny black dot of decay on one of my lower right molars. Each year he kept an eye on it to see if the size of the decay was increasing..... which it never did.

Then, when I was aged about 18 he retired. My "new school" dentist saw the tiny black dot on my first visit and his first and only thought was DRILL IT! DRILL IT! DRILL IT!

The result was a small filling, which then fell out after about 2 years but due to the intrusion through the enamel from the drilling (and probably a poor filling) it let in more acid and bacteria causing further decay underneath while it was in place. He repaired this by drilling it our with a larger filling which also fell out about 2 years later. He solved this with an even larger filling which left so little tooth round the edges that they cracked and fell away like pillars leaving only the tooth below the gum line visible.

In the end I went to another dentitst and asked him to pull what was left of that now ruined tooth and simply left it to heal over.

I am now 46 years old, I am no stranger to sugary food and brush once a day in the morning and rarely at night. I have never had my teeth "sealed" (until 10 minutes ago I didn't even know such a thing existed!), I don't floss, have never been to an "oral hygneist" and all my teeth except the one which was destroyed by the very person who was supposed to look after them are all perfect with no signs of decay apart for one single other pinprick black dot on a lower left molar (which the dentist noticed when he bodged the second filling saying "and we'll have to come back for that one"!!! I still have this dot and it has remained exactly the same and uttelry trouble free for almost 25 years!

I shudder to think what my mouth would look like now had I let him mess around with me for the last 20 years, probably performing more completely unnecessary work, but I certainly wouldn't be any better a positon than I am now, and probably a lot poorer!

TLDR I don't have much faith in dentists!

Anoneemoose

Thanks for the replies. I feel much better now.

At least I know what we can do in future. I’ve definitely learned a valuable lesson about the amount of times he eats. I didn’t really think he grazed much, but now I’ve thought about it, it’s more regular than I originally realised. And of course the ‘drinking mainly water, brushing twice a day, eating ‘healthy’ snacks’, seems to have lulled us into a false sense of security as well.