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LucyPevensie
member
If you've taken your toddler to pediatric dentist...
LucyPevensie
member
... please tell me all about it. I think Jack has cavities, yes plural, in his molars. I am really upset. He drinks milk, water or very watered down apple juice. Never has candy, has never tasted soda, has never taken a bottle of anything to bed with him. We rarely eat desserts. However, I have to confess we only brush once a day, because he hates it (and consequently so do I.) We also still use training toothpaste because trying little kid flouride toothpaste was a disaster and he swallows every bit. (We will now be brushing at least twice a day.)
But he has tiny, thin black streaks/discoloration on his molars. All of them. Well at least on the bottom. I wasn't planning on heading to ped dentist until 3 - but now will be setting up appointment asap.
I feel AWFUL. How does a 2.5 year old get cavities? Apparently from only brushing once a day, I guess. DAMN IT. Another thing to be riddled with anxiety over.
Wheee!
"When it comes to sleeping, whatever your baby does is normal. If one thing has damaged parents enjoyment of their babies, it's rigid expectations about how and when the baby should sleep." ~ James McKenna, Ph.D., Mother Baby Behavioral Sleep Center, University of Notre Dame
"When it comes to sleeping, whatever your baby does is normal. If one thing has damaged parents enjoyment of their babies, it's rigid expectations about how and when the baby should sleep." ~ James McKenna, Ph.D., Mother Baby Behavioral Sleep Center, University of Notre Dame
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Re: If you've taken your toddler to pediatric dentist...
I don't know the answers to any of your stuff (other than there was a post about kid dentists a week or so back, and the jest said "it went better than expected, they're great with kids") but I would not panic so quick that those are cavities. My cavities never looked like that. (grain of salt) And if they are, it could be something where he has "soft enamel" like I did, and they simply "sealed" the teeth with something. (they caught my brothers in time, and they never had cavities. Me? I'm full of fillings. everywhere.)
I don't think he has these issues because you only brush once a day. FWIW, that's all we do. Just get it checked out, AND BE NICE TO LUCY PEEEEEE!!!! ;-)
These may not be cavities LucyP -- DD has black marks along her gum line and her dentist (who is a friend of our neighbors and that's the only reason we've already seen her) has said repeatedly that it's iron staining from too much spinach - haha. So anyway, increased brushing helps -- we're up to twice a day and it's made a huge difference in the appearance of the stains.
All is not lost. Hang in there and good luck.
Another "don't jump the gun assuming cavities" response.
We LOOOOVE our pedi dentist!!!
TV's mounted in the ceiling make all the difference for little tots IMO.
Ours had the approach that they would get as far as they could but not traumatize them. They were floored when they got all the way thru a cleaning, flouride treatment AND x-rays with my guys!
Go with low expectations and you'll do fine.
Another tip that I think helped us a LOT was to check out every book at the library on going to the dentist and then playing "dentist" with them lying on the sofa at home before we went.
When we got there Dylan was actually telling the hygenist what she was going to do next. For my guys fear of the unknown tends to be our undoing but if they know what to expect they're just fine.
GL!
Total score: 6 pregnancies, 5 losses, 2 amazing blessings that I'm thankful for every single day.
It doesn't have to be bad. I'm particular about teeth because I have genetically horrid teeth. I come by it naturally despite really good oral hygiene so I've been very proactive with DS. Most people do not have to be this viligant.
Anyway, we brush two times a day at least with a toothpaste with Xylitol but no flouride. It's magical. It's not easily found at Target/regular drugstores though. I get mine at Whole Foods or you can get it from Amazon. The spry brand is good and tastes fine.
As for the dentist itself, we took DS with us to our appointments for a while and play dentist at home. He loves the whole charade of putting pillows on the bed or sofa, pretending to raise the chair, etc. And he has been three times and not cried once. He opens, sits back, lets them count, clean and polish his teeth.
Good luck!
Iron stains I can live with!! I hope that's what it is - but I don't know - these are in the ridges of his molars - and I saw a pic on-line of (very mild) toddler cavities - and it looked exactly the same. So it's not like - horrible rotted out teeth - but maybe the beginning of cavities. OR - maybe not?? I do give Jack a Flintstones WITH iron every single day - because he eats very little meat and his produce intake is mostly fruit (he likes a few veggies - but not many. We're working on it.) I started worrying 6 months or so about iron intake - so got the Flintstones with iron and he's had one every day since. He does chew them up with his molars... hmm... OK now I am going to hope it's just iron stains. While still making an appointment with a pediatric dentist. THANK YOU LADIES!! As per usual, you are all smart and awesome.
"When it comes to sleeping, whatever your baby does is normal. If one thing has damaged parents enjoyment of their babies, it's rigid expectations about how and when the baby should sleep." ~ James McKenna, Ph.D., Mother Baby Behavioral Sleep Center, University of Notre Dame
One of my friends little girl had black on one tooth (don't think it was a molar though) and turned out to be from getting too much iron. So it could be that. Keep us posted!