So my 5 year old son went for his twice a year checkup at the dentist the other
day, and they did x-rays for the first time. To my great horror, they
showed 3 cavities. One was worse than the others. Obviously, I feel
like a horrible, horrible mother. I thought we were doing a good job
with brushing and flossing, but I guess not.

I've really tried to
limit juice and sweet drinks and whatnot as well. Oh well. At least I
know that what we're doing isn't working and we have to change things up
a bit.
Anyway my question is, has your child had fillings? We
love our pediatric dentist and she's been great so far. She says she
tends to do fillings for little kids with nitrous oxide only because the
novacaine injections and numbness freak them out and upset them, and
that many kids can get by with just the gas. Obviously I'm pretty
nervous about this approach. She says she'll use his reaction as a
gauge, and give him novacaine if he needs it. I worry that by then
he'll already be in pain.

Yesterday we went for his
well-child visit and the pediatrician was NOT in favor of this plan.
She thought it was unnecessary to fill baby teeth when they're going to
fall out anyway. And that doing a procedure without pain meds was
cruel... "Would you undergo a dental procedure without novacaine?"
She's afraid it will lead to dental phobia.
I've been researching
online and there's a lot of stuff that says you SHOULD fill these
teeth, but a lot of the sources are from the Pediatric Dental
Association and other parties that may have a bit of bias.
BTW, these aren't back back molars... these are the first molars on the bottom that are next to the four front teeth.
Would love to hear anyone's input!
Re: Fillings for Cavities in Baby Teeth?
My oldest has more serious dental issues and he would not use meds with him either.
Thinking that this sounded completely bonkers, I sought a second opinion from my dentist. He agreed that it was crazy and said that he could do it in an hour if DS would be still for 2 minutes per tooth. He said he doesn't automatically numb the area because 75% of children don't complain of pain. He said he would only have to scuff the area with the drill to fill most of the decalcified areas. He only administers local if the kids complain of pain. Otherwise he uses nitrous oxide if they have difficulty remaining still. Apparently it's relatively common not to use anesthesia on very young children because they don't know enough to be apprehensive.
Nothing wrong with getting a 2nd opinion if you're not sure about their recommendation. Unaddressed cavities in baby teeth can affect permanent teeth in that spot later. My oldest had a cavity at his 3 year apt. I too was horrified & felt like a bad mom bc at that point I was usually the one brushing his teeth & thought I was doing a good job. I started talking to my friends and learned that cavities in baby teeth were extremely common. Several of their kids had experienced multiple cavities & some even needed extensive dental work.
We had the cavity filled. It was a small one so it took only a few minutes with no gas or anything and my son did just fine. After doing some research I opted to have sealants put on his teeth afterwards (at our expense bc baby sealants aren't covered by insurance). My 2nd son also had a cavity filled at 3 years old. It was a deeper cavity so she suggested using gas. I didn't like the idea but she felt like it would make the situation less stressful for him so I agreed. He did fine and I do think the gas was a good call. I opted to do sealants on him as well. I want to say it was about $180 for the sealants on each kid. With insurance I paid around $75 to fill a cavity so in my mind the sealants are worth the money...not only to avoid paying for the cavity filling but most importantly so my kids don't have to go through it.
My youngest is almost 2 & I plan to do sealants for him as well. My oldest didn't end up losing his first tooth until he was 7 years old so if a cavity at 3 had been left unaddressed that's 4 years for it to get worse, potentially causing him pain & doing permanent damage. In those 4 years post sealants he's had no cavities. I do have them brush every day (ideally twice) but I mostly trust them to do a good job (I watch them but don't usually assist the older two) & we rarely floss. I need to do better on that. :-/
Married: '06 - Mom of 3 boys: '08, '11 & '14