2 1/2 Son Undergoing Sedation for His 2 Front Teeth

EDITED to update information:

My suggestion would be to ask around for a good pediatric dentist to get a second opinion. There is a new pediatric dental clinic in Seattle (maybe Magnuson Park?). I even think it may be relatively inexpensive. Please look it up online. It's associated with the UW.

I don't know if you really want MY advice, but here goes. . .: ) My daughter did the liquid sedation at the dentist and she had to drink 3 separate drinks over the course of an hour or so. The last drink they had to hold her down and make her drink it while she was screamining. Ever since then, she is terrified of the dentist. They did it to my daughter when she was about your son's age to fill a cavity.
Then a few months ago, her new dentist told me she had 8 cavities in her baby teeth and wanted to put her under general anesthetic in the hospital and fill her teeth. Every cell in my body cried, "NO!!" I went and go 2nd and 3rd opinions from other dentists that were really vague, so NOW, I brush her teeth myself and I am thinking about going back to non-floride toothpaste, and every day I give her cod liver oil, I only use real butter and real oils now like olive oil, and I am cutting down on processed foods.
My nurse friend told me she healed her kid's cavities by giving them cod liver oil daily for 6 months along with a few other herbs.
All my dentists have told me that my kids just have bad enamel. I didn't understand how it could be sooo bad. Then I read about Dr Weston Price on the internet. He was a dentist 40 or 50 years ago that discovered many populations of people in other countries with beautiful teeth, that didn't brush and floss all the time. He concluded that you are what you eat. The US diet is really, really deficient in vitamin D and the best sources for that are fish oils and especially cod liver oil. He was able to reverse people's cavities by changing their diet and believes that teeth can regenerate. All of our cells are constantly regenerating over time. If a mother's diet is deficient in vitamin D, while the baby is forming in the womb, it will have weaker bones and teeth and will be way more susceptible to cavities. If the mother takes fish oil with her prenatals and gets like 1000 IUs of vitamin D then her baby's teeth are usually much straighter and stronger.

I used to work in a dental office, and my suggestion would be before you do anything make sure to seek a second opinion from a pediatric dentist. Especially since this is work that will be done on baby teeth, not permanent teeth and it's important to make sure the correct treatment will be done. You can request your sons Xrays and records to take with you, that way they won't have to repeat the xrays. They may charge you a small fee for copying the xrays but legally they are required to give you a copy if you ask.

Good luck!

My son has had the oral sedation for getting cavities filled several times, but he was a couple of years older. The pediatric dentist would give him liquid demerol (with fenergan) based on his weight, plus nitrous oxide. It would not knock him completely out, just make him very sleepy. They would monitor his blood pressure the whole time, and try to get everything done within a certain amount of time so he wasn't under too long. He was still able to follow commands and respond when they asked him if he was doing OK. But without the sedation he would be more anxious and try to get up and leave.

My four year old had a cavity at three years of age and they gave him oral sedation. It however, did not work. Some children do not relax on this medicine and if you are not willing to put your child under(this was what they wanted to do since the oral sedation did not work) I would suggest just taking him to a dentist that is willing to put up with the screaming. I refused to put my child under to get a cavity fixed. Yes, that may seem like I let my kid go through a tramatic experience, but they are young and bounce back easily. We don't sedate our children before we give them 6 shots in one doctors visit, and that is extremely traumatic for a child, but they still live through it. I would try the oral sedation. It usually has good calming results, but if it doesn't, you have to ask yourself what you are comfortable with as a parent and go with that. You know whats best for your child.

Hi R.,
If you're asking about just the sedaition, my daughter had tubes put in her ears at around 2 years. She went through the procedure with flying colors. They warned us that she would cry afterwards from fear not pain. Be prepared she really cried for I can remember at least a half an hour.My husband and I took turns holding and rocking her. The nurses told us they don't understand and get real upset.
If it's about the front teeth it takes til their about 6-8 years old to get their premanent teeth. This is how long it took for my stepson. Anyway the whole thing didn't harm either of our kids. Hope this helps. H.

I would never let a child go through the experience of having dental work done on them while awake. Our Pediatric Dentist practices at 3 different hospitals in OKC and puts the children to sleep to do any drilling, capping, etc...it is wonderful! They go to sleep, come back in just a few minutes with beautiful teeth,wake up and want to go out to eat.

I am very happy with a doc that wants the kiddos to be out for dental work. Can you imagine what it would be like for them???The feel of the drill, the smell of the decay, the being still, the cold water dribbling down their faces, the shots, all that goes with that.

K had 3 fillings and 1 cap, she had fallen down the metal and concrete stairway at her moms during a visit and broken her front tooth off. Our Pediatric Dentist also uses ONLY white filling material. Many younger dentists do this, older ones tend to want to do silver, ours takes state medical assistance and still does the white.

Good luck, I think you are making a good decision.

Hi R.,
We also went through this last Spring with our daugther who was 2. She put a rock into the swing set seat, pushed it and came back and hit her in the mouth and broke her tooth. It had to be pulled. She took the liquid (only had to drink one small cup comparable to kids Tylenol) that made her sleepy. It was a small amount, she drank it fine and we sat around for an hour while it took effect (lucky for us the pediatric dentist office has a movie room :) ). When the procedure happened, she was in and out and after we got home she slept for about 3 hours. There were no side effects at all and she never cried once. It's not that she's extra tough, but we didn't make it a big deal and so it wasn't. Be assured, that it's OK and he'll be OK. The hardest part for us, was her losing her front tooth at 2 years old :) Luckily, it's just a baby tooth. Hugs to you....

My son at 2 had to have his front tooth pulled because it broke. The (stupid) dentist pulled it without sedation.

It was traumatic.

There was a choice of putting him completely under but he did not do it. I should of done it. Didn't do it because it would have taken another trip and have gone to the hospital and I had a newborn daughter and I did not know better.

I should have done it. Do it if you have the option. My poor little boy.

Hi, My son turned two in May so he is around the same age as your son. His top four teeth came in discolored and I could see cavities develop from about a year on two lower molars. I can't lie, I was really upset because I was certain he would have to be sedated which made me very uncomfortable. I visited a pediatric dentist who did little to make him comfortable, forced his mouth open, and told me he had tons of cavities. She then told me that he would need several crowns and cavities filled all while under complete sedation. Plus I was given paperwork stating that there was an 80% chance he would require the same surgery within one year because he would have more cavities. Yikes. I was also told my son needed to gain 5-10 pounds before he could have the surgery so I was very concerned his cavities would become painful while we tried to accomplish this feat.

Long story short, I began to research alternative treatments and here is what I found:
1. Remineralize the teeth using a special diet. See the book "Cure Tooth Decay" by R. Nagel. My experience: my son is a very very picky eater so we tried the diet including the cod liver oil but it wasn't feasible. We have and will continue taking the cod liver oil bc of the health benefits.
2. Ozone therapy. This treatment is popular in Europe but not yet in the US. Basically, the dentist uses a machine that generates ozone and it kills the bacteria in the tooth and stops the decay from growing. Sometimes multiple treatments are required. The treatment does not require sedation or shots just that the child holds his mouth open for up to 2 minutes per infected tooth. The issue I encountered is that the closest dentist that provides this service is in Tacoma, 6 hours away. I did here from a dentist out of NJ yesterday who teaches other dentists how to use ozone therapy in their practices and he said he will send me a list of the dentists that have taken his course and practice in the area.
3. My current approach. After making many calls to holistic dentist in the area while searching for a doc that provided the ozone treatment, one doctor recommended that I contact Dr Pike here in the Portland area about his iodine treatment. So I called and had a conversation with him and have since had our first appointment. Basically, iodine is mixed with flouride and rubbed on the tooth with the goal of arresting/stopping the decay from growing any further. We have to return once per month for size months for this treatment plus brush his teeth 4 times per day and apply a tiny am out of flouride toothpaste to the cavities. Between the visits and the home treatments, dr pike believes we will stop the decay from growing. My son will end up needing two crowns on his molars but shockingly these are applied without shots or sedation using glass isomer to seal the tooth. So the monthly appointments also serve the purpose of preparing my son so he is willing to hold open his mouth and have the crowns placed.

That's my experience. I am so very relieved to have found dr pike especially after my experience with the other dentist and facing sedation. I recommend you give him a call. Plus the office does a great job working with kids. It's amazing the difference between his office and my first experience. Good luck and drop me a note if you have questions.

In the 20 years as a dental professional, I have never heard of cod liver oil healing cavities. I would be very sceptical of this information, it is not based on scientic research. Once a tooth has a cavity through the enamel and into the dentin, nothing will fix it except to removed the decayed portion and fill it. If it is not fixed, the decay will continue. Unfortunately this is the only solution. If the decay is NOT through the enamel, it is proven that fluoride and MI paste are the only things available to re-mineralize the enamel. MI paste is a calcium phosphate paste derived from milk-it is what enamel is made of.
Please get a second opinion from another dentist and see what your options are. A 21/2 year old is usually treated with oral sedation and/or nitrous oxide. I know it is scary, but it is worse to have your child fear the dentist from having a bad experience and believe me, it will be a bad experience if he is not sedated somehow. If the teeth require fillings, you need to get it treated, it can affect the development of his permenant teeth or it can abcess and cause an awful infection. I have worked with ped's and this is not only safe, but the best thing for your son.
At home please brush his teeth yourself 2 times a day and floss once a day, parents need to brush their children's teeth for them until at least the age of 8. Reduce sugary foods like juice, soda, dried fruits, and candy.

Good luck, T. P., RDH

my daughter has had some yucky looking front upper teeth for at least a year. the dentist keeps an eye on them but says they are ok, just not so pretty. i guess at this point they're not cavities so it's ok to leave them alone. we could cap them but they will fall out anyway.

my older daughter also was missing enamel on her front teeth and i took her in at 2.5 for weird brown lines on her teeth. we ended up getting them fixed but they didn't have to be capped, just filled. we tried to fill them without sedation but she wasn't having it. we ended up doing sedation but it involved a pill taken at home before i think plus a shot in the office. looking back, that dentist was too pushy. he also suggested that she needed a palate-stretcher at the age of 4 because of her pacifier use. we ended up moving and her new dentist said that it would more than likely resolve itself and it did. so i wonder if it was actually necessary to fill her teeth or if we could have just watched it like we're doing with our second one.

i would just keep an eye on it like she said but you don't want it to infect his mouth if indeed they are cavities. can they pull the teeth without sedation? i remember getting teeth pulled while being awake after i got shots in my gums to numb them. they have even better numbing things now. my girls never even know when they've gotten a shot because they put on a numbing gel before they get the shot.

if you don't have a ped. dentist already, find one that has a really entertaining office for them. back in the kids waiting area, they have video game consoles, train table, dolls, and coloring.

btw, my daughters both love the dentist. my younger didn't love it until after she was 3 and then she was a perfect patient. before that, she didn't want them near her mouth.