Our little girl needs five crowns put in, and the dentist tells my wife it would be a three hour procedure with full anaesthetic. We’re having it done at a hospital with an anaesthesiologist on hand, but we’re still a bit nervous. Does anyone else have experience having dental work done on a kid that young?
Crowns? On a two year old??? But they’ll be falling out with the rest of her teeth in a couple of years. Kids often have bad teeth, especially if you;ve gotten into the habit of slipping them a bottle to help them sleep. The next batch of teeth are likely to be fine.
I suggest you find another dentist and ignore this charlatan.
HG
[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]Crowns? On a two year old??? But they’ll be falling out with the rest of her teeth in a couple of years. Kids often have bad teeth, especially if you;ve gotten into the habit of slipping them a bottle to help them sleep. The next batch of teeth are likely to be fine.
I suggest you find another dentist and ignore this charlatan. Have you considered foam?
HG[/quote]
This is ill advice as two year olds can still develop gum disease which can affect or prevent new teeth from forming correctly.
I’ve never heard of anything like this on a two year old - please consider getting a second opinion…
Find out why before you go any further, and go to other dentists for other opinions. Three hours under general anaesthetic is high-risk, especially for a two-year-old. If it were my decision, I would be opting for something else unless the bad teeth are likely to kill the kid.
[quote=“sulavaca”][quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]Crowns? On a two year old??? But they’ll be falling out with the rest of her teeth in a couple of years. Kids often have bad teeth, especially if you;ve gotten into the habit of slipping them a bottle to help them sleep. The next batch of teeth are likely to be fine.
I suggest you find another dentist and ignore this charlatan. Have you considered foam?
HG[/quote]
This is ill advice as two year olds can still develop gum disease which can affect or prevent new teeth from forming correctly.[/quote]
Then point to the error. I said find another dentist and avoid this charlatan like the filthy plague that he is. You don’t need crowns for gum disease.
HG
Crowns help in providing a snug fit between the tooth and gum preventing excessive bacterial build ups which can lead to gum disease or increase levels of present gum disease in the event that a tooth has become decayed and the gum has receded . I’m no dentist, but this is what I have read and it makes logical sense. Of course this is only a partial treatment for gum disease, and may not eliminate it.
Some of the dentists seem a bit quick to suggest that here. I got widely diverging opinions for my daughter, decided against major work, and she has been fine. Of course your daughter’s situation may be different but I’d definitely get some more opinions before taking that plunge.
By the way half of them want to immediately launch into a full series of x-rays, scotch it.
so does cleaning their teeth properly, two-three times a day.
look, none of us can comment as i am sure most are not competent to do more than offer general advice, if that, especially without seeing the teeth in question. get several professional opinions, and bear in mind that a three hour GA on a 2 year old is fraught with danger. child anaesthetists who don’t kill their patients with high regularity are rare. kids are very hard to anaesthetise properly, small kids even more so.
My son needed some dental work when we first came here from Taiwan, too. I can tell you for absolute certain that dental work in Taiwan and in the States is vastly different. Every dentist who looked in to my son’s mouth-or mine, for that matter, has told me the dental work he/we recieved in Taiwan was the worst they’d ever seen! And I can tell you that no dentist over here would put a two year old under general anesthisa unless there was a life threatening risk already–because that’s a great risk to your child. Dentists over here opted for frequent visits for professional cleaning and monitoring until he was old enough to have something more extensive done. Dental infections can be very dangerous no matter your age, but, here at least, they won’t do a surgical procedure if you’ve got an infection without trying to fight it with drugs first. If the general anesthisa is only for your son’s comfort, you should really be considering other options and other professional opinions. My 2 cents.
Was there a rebate given on five crowns or something? Or 5 for the price of 3. I know economic times are not good, but please not the kids
Never heard of such a thing, as crowning teeth on a toddler. As others said, those milk teeth fall out anyway. You did not mention if your kid feels pain so I assume she doesn’t.
General rule is don’t be put under unless you need to. And as mentioned anesthesia can be fatal especially for kids.
The good people at Chang Gung hospital recommended a spinal/cranium tap for my newborn baby when she was born with a fever. And for the grand price of only a couple of thousand in loose change. National health insurance is in the red. Hospitals start to make revenue by providing other services
That is normal protocol in the US for babies under 3 months old… at least it used to be (when my boy was born back in 1992). The fear is (was) that the fever is caused by bacterial meningitis and often the hospital/docs will begin treating for that even before the tests results come back… if the baby has bacterial meningitis, the bacteria might eat the brain and or spinal chord and so treatment is given asap.
Often the treatment can cause other problems, but those are deemed lesser problems that can be dealt with later… the damage caused by bacterial meningitis, however, is irreversible and that’s why the docs try to hit it hard and fast.
That is normal protocol in the US for babies under 3 months old… at least it used to be (when my boy was born back in 1992). The fear is (was) that the fever is caused by bacterial meningitis and often the hospital/docs will begin treating for that even before the tests results come back… if the baby has bacterial meningitis, the bacteria might eat the brain and or spinal chord and so treatment is given asap.
Often the treatment can cause other problems, but those are deemed lesser problems that can be dealt with later… the damage caused by bacterial meningitis, however, is irreversible and that’s why the docs try to hit it hard and fast.[/quote]
They did start treating her with antibiotics first. The offer of the spinal tap came 10 hours later, with no explanation except it would be a good idea that then became it was necessary
Granted they may have been playing it safe, and they did administer the antibiotics ASAP
I have seen some terrible teeth on kids here in Taiwan in the kindy’s I have worked in. Sometimes I am just so amazed that parents could let their kid’s teeth get so bad. I have heard that comment before about, “hey, they are going to fall out soon anyway” so after one of the parent’s who could speak quite good English told me that about her cute little daughter with black broken teeth, I did some research on the internet and printed out some reports on Children’s Dental Hygiene. I can’t remember all it said as this was years ago, but yes, gum disease is one concern, if the kids get gum disease, the gums can receed and then there isn’t as much gum to hold the new teeth in place, and having bad teeth can even affect the child’s pronunciation. And it kinda should be common sense that having a mouthful of black teeth and cavities is not healthy. Yes, I have seen kids with terrible teeth only able to eat congee everyday as it hurts them too much to bite real food.
Well, talking about crowns, I don’t know if they are crowns on the broken teeth or new teeth put in there, but I have also seen many children, some as young as three with all their back lower teeth all made of metal. It is so hard to comprehend how kids this young could need such treatment. Maybe it is to stop the many problems associated with bad teeth and how they can affect the second teeth. But, prevention I am sure is better than cure. How hard is it to teach people to look after their children’s teeth. I can still remember the dentist visiting my school back when I was in infant school in Australia, as well as seeing ads on TV about looking after your teeth.
My boy, is 7 and a half, born here in Taiwan and has had no problems with his teeth. I got him into the simple routine of brushing his teeth after breakfast and before going to bed every day from a young age, and at my boy’s kindergarten, they made the kids brush their teeth after lunch every day. Would it also have been an advantage as we go back to Australia for a month every year and he gets to drink water with fluoride in it?
There are so many things here that if they decided to spend a bit on health education, they may actually save money on the National Health Insurance, but I have had this arguement on another health topic before, and some don’t seem to agree. It shouldn’t really be that hard.
…
I wonder if they be pulled out or would that cause more problems? Then again, it would be under full anesthisa, I guess 
-I would definitively go for a second opinion.
And then start brushing the kids teeth perhaps 2-3 times more than you do already and every single day from now on. Brush after every meal and snack and downsize the sweet foods and drinks.
Best of luck to you and your kid
Two year olds have already teeth?
yup
I don’t know if the OP has written this, but how the hell did the kid’s situation come to this? What a horrifying thing. I did hear about a kid back in the States having to have ALL his baby teeth removed because of gum disease. Don’t do the shutupandsleep bottle at night without following it with a shot of water.
Sounds horrific indeed. Maybe it really is what’s needed. But still I’d be beating down the doors of every dentist I could reach. 3 hours of general anaesthetic for a 2-year-old? Christ!
I imagine it’s necessary. That’s some serious work that needs to be done. Not just some shithead Dentist trying to squeeze an extra 500 clams for molar cleaning.
Live and learn.