My 5year old needs surgery for fillings Won't these teeth fall out anyway?!
Question: He is extremely scared of the dentist, we have tried 3 different ones so the third one decided to schedule him for surgery. If we don't have the surgery will his new teeth come in OK. We asked our dentist this, but he looked at us like we had two heads.
Answers: He is extremely scared of the dentist, we have tried 3 different ones so the third one decided to schedule him for surgery. If we don't have the surgery will his new teeth come in OK. We asked our dentist this, but he looked at us like we had two heads.
The dentist probably looked at you strangely because sometimes they don't understand that patients don't have a knowledge of the teeth like they do. They forget their pre-dental school days! lol...
Anyway, in answer to your question... they may or may not come in OK. Beneath the current 'baby' teeth are the tooth buds, or partially formed, adult teeth. If the caries (cavities) get large enough to enter the pulp of the tooth and travel to the apex (tip of the root), it will not only cause your son HORRIBLE pain, and thus need a root canal, but the bacteria from the caries will travel to the newly forming tooth.... therefore the new tooth will come in damaged. However, if this doesn't happen, the teeth with the cavities will eventually fall out and the tooth below it should be OK.
Be forewarned, that once the cavity enters the dentin (tooth structure under the enamel) it can spread VERY quickly even though it doesn't look any different when you look in his mouth. The dentist seems to be acting in your son's best interests by suggesting surgery - where he'll be anesthetized- rather than just fillings which may scare him more. Good luck, and I hope everything turns out well... I have a 5 year old too, and it just breaks my heart when kids come in to have anything other than a cleaning done on their teeth!
Yes, they will, but he needs to have his teeth filled so that the cavities don't spread to the gums and roots of his teeth, and potentially to his jaw.
That's true, but if you don't fix the fillings, disease could get into his nerves and roots and he may end up needing to have a root canal or something more invasive then.
yep, they'll come out, you could probably wait.