"Mom, there's something sharp in my mouth."
I assumed S was procrastinating going to bed and didn't take it very seriously.
Until I looked inside his mouth and everything ground to a halt: he'd broken a pretty sizeable chunk off of one of his molars!
Luckily one of our neighbors is a children's dentist and we dropped by the next evening. He took one look and said: "This is a major cavity that started between his teeth and weakened the molar enough that it just broke off."
I just stood there stupidly with my own mouth hanging open. "How could this have happened? He doesn't drink cola, eats very little sweets and we brush his teeth twice a day!"
Apparently S's new molars are too close together for the toothbrush bristles to reach between them. Plus he's got some form of more aggressive bacteria in his mouth. Put these two together and you've got a dental disaster just waiting to happen!
We had our official appointment with the dentist yesterday-- S has got three different cavities that need to be filled and two more that we will have to watch closely. On the way home we stopped at the pharmacy and loaded up on dental floss and heavy duty mouth rinse.
I know it's a bit illogical but I feel kind of ashamed that this has happened. Just hang my mug shot right up there alongside other mothers who neglect their children. Because S says he's ALWAYS hungry and this afternoon I let him play outside without a jacket. He had on a sweater but that is still tantamount to child abuse in this area...
Wait until social services gets a good look in his mouth!
4 comments:
Aw Mom, it's not YOUR fault! Some people are just prone to cavities! Glad you caught it now!
Carol
Don't feel bad, that happened to Boy10 as well. One day I looked in his mouth and saw this little black spot that I SWEAR wasn't there all the other times I'd looked and the dentist also said it wasn't our fault, sometimes cavities do form where the toothbrush can't reach.
Both my kids have had their back molars sealed to keep out bacteria. Did your dentist mention anything about that?
Funny thing about dental hygiene in Germany - you and I freak out about our kids having one cavity, but there were several kids in both my boys' classes at school that actually had black teeth or had to have ALL their baby teeth either filed down or capped due to neglect. Wow.
Thanks guys! Yeah, the dentist talked about sealing S's molars-- it's something to think about, but first we have to take care of the cavities that have already formed.
The one that broke off will have to be capped with stainless steel. Poor little guy!
He's not nervous (yet!) because he has no idea what to expect. (I've explained it but I don't think he really "gets" it.)
I, on the other hand, break out into a sweat when I think about what they're going to have to do to him. Wish us luck!
My daughter had a silver cap on a baby tooth for several years (due to a "baby root canal"). I actually think she was rather proud of it, but maybe that's just because the tooth fairy gave her extra money when it finally fell out!
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