Warning about teeth...

[bjornolf]

Little warning for everybody out there about teeth. Our six year old was always terrified of the dentist for some reason I don't understand. We'd read him nice stories about them, watched videos where they helped people, everything we could think of, but he was always terrified. We brushed his teeth to the extent he'd let us (he has a strong gag reflex like his mom, so if any paste suds build up in his mouth, he starts coughing and sputtering and has even vomited from toothpaste suds). We took him to the dentist about a year ago, but he would barely open his mouth to let the doctor examine him. About six months ago, he started complaining that his ear hurt. We took him in to the pediatrician and they told us that his six year molars were coming in and that was probably causing the pain. He's been complaining of ear pain off and on since then, but we told him it must be his teeth coming in.

About a week ago, he started complaining that his tooth hurt. One of the ones that's already in. He even started begging to go to the dentist. This IMMEDIATELY raised a red flag for me, so I called up the dentist and got him an appointment. In the meantime, we started giving him some ibuprofen and oragel for it. He started complaining more, so I called again and we got an "emergency" appointment. Took him in yesterday and they examined and took x-rays. Turns out his tooth was almost completely rotted away. There was more cavity than tooth. Literally. We have the tooth to prove it. I couldn't see it cause it was hidden by his other teeth (it's a molar in the back). They had to sedate him and rip the tooth out of his head. He's fine now. His ear pain went away immediately and his tooth pain was gone within a few hours. The bleeding wasn't much fun, but it went away in a while. He was pretty traumatized by being strapped down and having a tooth ripped out of his head, but he's fine now. He's actually very happy to have it over today. So his ear pain WAS caused by a tooth. A rotting, decaying tooth!

We might have been able to save the tooth if we'd gone in to the dentist immediately back in January, rather than listening to the pediatrician and just figuring it was the molars. Anyway, piece of advice. If your kid has ear pain and the doctor says it's just his molars coming in, go in to the dentist and get that confirmed.

I feel like such a terrible parent. My kid's missing a tooth that isn't going to be replaced for about another five years. He needs a spacer. And he went through pain and trauma that I could have prevented. Hopefully, someone can learn from my mistakes and prevent their kids from going through this horrible and expensive experience. The strange thing is that my kid loves the dentist thanks to him stopping his pain, despite the fact that he went through the trauma of having him loom over him and rip his tooth out of his head. He's no longer afraid (he WAS terrified DURING and just after the procedure, but he's fine now). Personally, I thought he'd be MORE terrified now, but just the opposite. So, I guess that's the one good thing to come from this.

[DukeUsul]

Joe, thanks for the advice! We've been brushing Katie's teeth (or tooth) every day from when they first showed up to try to get her into the habit. We try to make it fun. So we're hoping to get her into doing it herself. Here's hoping it works.

That's great that he now has an appreciation for dentists!

[Miles]

Give your little guy a big hug from me and tell him Uncle Miles understands his pain. I FINALLY got scheduled (next Wednesday the 24th) to have my four wisdom teeth extracted. Three of them aren't causing any pain, but they need to be removed because they'll make cleaning more difficult and will be a pain later. One of them is absolutely kicking my ass. And if the pain isn't enough, the damn antibiotics I'm on pretty much ruin my stomach and I have to cover the entire procedure out of pocket because this one freaking procedure isn't covered by my dental plan. Sweet.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Give your little guy a big hug from me and tell him Uncle Miles understands his pain. I FINALLY got scheduled (next Wednesday the 24th) to have my four wisdom teeth extracted. Three of them aren't causing any pain, but they need to be removed because they'll make cleaning more difficult and will be a pain later. One of them is absolutely kicking my ass. And if the pain isn't enough, the damn antibiotics I'm on pretty much ruin my stomach and I have to cover the entire procedure out of pocket because this one freaking procedure isn't covered by my dental plan. Sweet.

Usually impacted wisdom teeth are covered for extractions. I suggest you have your dentist double check.

[weezie]

Hey, don't beat yourself up. My daughter went through all kinds of tooth issues. It was the "Big Book of British Smiles" there for a while with her. She was also missing a permanent tooth and had to have an implant after all the braces were removed. She had a spacer, too; your baby will have a beautiful smile like hers.
It's a shame your little guy was traumatized, though, geez, why didn't they give him nitrous and then put him under? I can imagine the anxiety and sweaty palms that you, yourself went through.
Man these little people really rip your heart out, don't they?!

[bjornolf]

The doctor gives them a little nitrous to relax them, but he said he's found over his 35 years of pediatric dentistry that the risk of putting them all the way under outweighs the benefits for a little guy with a simple extraction. Wisdom teeth is another thing.