Toddler and dental work?

[DanaNN]

I just had a quick question..im having a hard time figuring out what to do with my 2.5 year old.

He needs a good amount of dental work done...A few crowns on the back teeth and a cavity right in between his 2 front teeth...

Ive gotten a few diff opinions from diff dentists but havent felt comfortable with any yet.

Denitst #1-uses Nitrous oxide

Dentist #2-would never use Nitrous on a 2 year old and suggests going the hospital route and doing FULL anestesia and getting all the work done at once.

Dentist #3-does no sedation at all..he would need 3 or 4 sessions and be tied down.

Im just at a loss on what to do:(...it needs to be done soon...dentist #2 now has me afraid of doing nitrous bc he said its dangerous on young children...but FULL anest. freaks me out so much:(:(

Any advice or suggestions??

[Nickysteeth]

I feel very sorry for you and your little one, I cannot imagine having to decide the route to take with such a young child but I did have to make the choice for my then 6 yr old when she needed "baby root canal' work....treatment was started by a pedodontist who wrapped her up in a special restraint (this scared her very much, she knew she was in for a rough ride right then) she was then given nitrous via her nose ( this stuff is very short acting and needs to be continuously delivered, but because her mouth was open too, for the work to be done, I felt that its effect was minimal) I was required to then leave her for him to do his work, reason given was that children can "play up more' expecting mother to intervene...which I understood, but I feel that it depends alot of the child and does not apply to all children.  I could hear her yelling throughout the entire procedure and it was absoute hell, for both of us.  He wanted me to bring her back for remainder of treatment but there was no way I was going to put her through that again.  I took her to a different pedodontist for the rest of her work, she was given an oral medicine which made her very sleepy but not completely out of it, she was then numbed with gel and then shots were given, she was a bit nervous but felt very little discomfort.  The work was done and I was allowed to stay in the room with her, I sat out of the way and held her foot to comfort her so she knew I was there. It was night and day...I do not know if this could be given to your little one but I know that the dose is determined by weight, my girl was still very woozy after but was perfectly O.K and did not suffer any trauma.  Do not let the dentist who wants to restrain anywhere near your child, ask about oral sedation and stress that it is important to both you and your child that you are present, give them assurance that you will not intervene and although you are obviously impatient for the treatment to begin please look around for a dentist that will offer you what you are completely happy with.  I hope this helps a little, I know nothing about full anesthesia but it may be an option, try reaserching it online or speaking to your pediatrician

[MAMMAME]

While I haven't had the dental issues that you are having, I have had my own with my now 2 1/2 year old. When she was 20 months, she inhaled a cashew (by accident but of course I felt so guilty that she found it on the floor) and had to have it removed via an expert ENT Doctor.  This surgery required her to be fully sedated since they needed to put instruments down throat to her lung to remove the cashew.  I was nervous about that but not doing it was obviously so much more dangerous than not doing it.  We were at a Childrens hospital, so if you have one near you, I would def. go that route.

[pertykitty]

were these dentists pedodontists? (childrens dentists) or just general?  at this age it could be very hard to do the work.  this is something you have to choose, we can all give advice but you have to be comfortable with it.  some pedodontists sedate, and yes some do use the boards to restrain them.  it has to be a comfortable experience, you dont want to traumatize her/him forever.  decay like this at 2/5 yrs old is usually that of a child that goes to bed with a bottle, make sure you learn some good hygiene techniques and get your child started in wanting to do them daily. will make it much easier on her with treatment and your pocketbook.

[Trialanderror]

I fully second perty`s advice. Your own comfort level will have some influence on how your daughter takes the whole procedure to come. In my family we have heredetary vitamin D/ calcium malabsorption which I only realized later on. Combined with too much juice during the day with a babysitter and not so perfect brushing, my son`s molars were on the path of destruction at preschool age. Seven required fillings, no crowns though - and our regular dentist referred him to a hospital with full anaesthesia. The reason was that he wanted to maintain a relaxed relationship with my son for future check-ups. He figured that even with nitrous oxide the procedure would take way too long. In hindsight I am so glad we chose this option. All damage was fixed within an hour, it was somewhat traumatic but thereafter, my son always considered our regular dentist to be the nice guy in comparison. Once that many fillings are done, it requires extra hygiene and frequent checkups and flossing since the areas around fillings are prone to get new cavities. Some of the work had to be repaired but now my son fully trusted our regular dentist to do so with nitrous oxide. Our dentist chose the latter because my son tends to be the fidgety type. We have tremendously improved our brushing and flossing techniques and believe that the proper maintenance of the permanent teeth will be doable. My son loves the dentist and I can only say with a next child I would never let anyone introduce juice to them. Just water. It was and is a nightmare and I will always feel guilty for not having given my son vitamin D supplements and introduced flossing sooner. Good luck with your decision.