My eldest daughter just got back from an $800 dental appointment. She had four (!) cavities to be filled and ended up needing two stainless steel caps as well as a generous dose of nitrous oxide to keep her from wigging out like she did on the dentist’s first attempt at fixing the teeth.
We brush her sisters’ teeth the exact same way and duration, but they have been cavity free.
It seems my eldest inherited her Dad’s weak enamel and my middle girl has her momma’s teeth, which are strong as a horse’s. I can eat candy and sugary drinks and I never floss and the dentist always raves about my smile, while my poor hubby is the most diligent brusher I have ever met and he has cavities all over the place.
Life’s not fair, I guess. (He also has buns of steel while mine are a party that all the cottage cheese in the world got invited to, so maybe it all balances out. That being said, I would take rotten teeth over a jiggly rear any day.)
Regardless, we have definitely become more diligent about our kids’ oral care and have added flossing to the regime and are making sure the sugar bugs die a timely death before wreaking havoc in young mouths.
Are you hardcore tooth-brushing nazis? Or do you figure that since they’re just baby teeth, they may as well rot in your kid’s face? Have your kids had cavities despite your best efforts? Anyone want to start a support group for parents of cavity-ridden kids? It sure makes you feel like you SUCK at the whole “keeping your child cared for” deal.
I was that kid with a million cavities – put to sleep for a root canal at 9! Extractions, crowns – all of it.
Im a Nazi with my son. Digital timer, flouride rinses and electric toothbrushes are his buddies. Im so happy that at 9 he is in our Dentist cavity free club – yipee!
nazi here. i have had so much done to my mouth that i know the pain that can come with surgeries, extractions and all of the other fun stuff that comes with it that i don’t want the same for my kids.
and all of those little problems with the baby teeth if left unchecked can affect the permanent ones. i don’t mess around with teeth at all.
I JUST had this discussion last night and said…ah, so I missed a few nights – his teeth are all going to fall out….
So far so good on Will’s teeth and his dentist is my cousin…:)
We have escaped cavities (so far) but we have begun the long and expensive process of straightening my daughter’s overcrowded teeth. So far 8 extractions at about $200 each and we haven’t even started with braces!
When I took Makenna to the dentist for the first time at 4 years old she had 10, that’s right, 10 cavities! That’s half your mouth at that age. Parents of the year went to us that year. Three stainless steel caps on her molars and one white one in the front. $1200! She did go to bed with a bottle, but I know other kids that did the same and they’ve got nothin. It is important to get them all fixed cuz they are in a lot of pain and can’t or don’t tell you it’s their teeth. They are much happier when there all fixed up.
Then, at 6 we went to have her wiggly, hanging by a thread front tooth pulled, or I should say flicked out by the dentist. (long story, but she would not pull it out) $100. Crazy!! 30 second appointment. But we love our dentist and they love going. Even after all that!
My sons first real dentist visit (other than the “count the teeth” one at 3) was when he was 5 and one of his molars was so bad it had absessed and the poor boy had to get it pulled out. The same spot on the other side was hanging on, but barely. I felt terrible awful. My next two sons haven’t had any teeth issues at all, and like you, we do the same routine and diet for all three. You either have good teeth or you don’t, I guess. In this case, their dad has the good teeth and mine stink. And I almost wonder if my son had a raging fever while those molars were forming or something, and they were just damaged. What can you do, other than the crying over the bill thing, cuz ya, OUCH! Flossing kids teeth is torture, but I know it’s supposed to be done. I guess that would be my area to improve.