3 yr old with cavity - pls advise

bridiebirdie

Horrified? I was too and feel sick at the thought that my negligence has caused this. I do brush his teeth at bedtime, he doesn't eat many sweeties, but I was giving him bottles of milk in bed at night and in the morning. I feel awful.:(

Anyway, we've brought him to one local dentist, and my little boy totally refused to co-operate, I don't blame him, he's only 3. But the dentist managed to get a peek in, and he will need a filling because the cavity is causing toothache too.

The dentist said he'd need sedation, but we're in the west, and the only dentist who will treat a child this young with sedation is in Dublin. We are almost broke as it is with this recession. Does anyone know of a dentist even in the midlands who could help? There is a Galway paediatric dentist who won't sedate til age 4.

Also, I tried a few dentists up north but they said they normally refer children that young to the local hospital, and as we're not covered by the NHS that won't work either.

Does anyone know of any other Northern Irish dentists that may help, or dentists anywhere other than Dublin. We're about as far west as you can get. Any general advice on this too would be great.

Thanks in advance.

BostonB

Perhaps some of the childrens hospitals might have information if you rang them?

flowertree

You could get your regular dentist to refer you to the dublin or cork dental hospital to see what they could do.This could involve lots of appointments though..and not much being done for most of the appointments (to be honest.)
Contact your local hse dental clinic for an appointment.Say you are concerned and they can try to maybe place a filling/patch up the tooth or refer to a dental hospital if they can't get anywhere.
A private paedodontist(child dentist specialist) will charge you about E150 for a checkup.

ballsymchugh

i had read about 3 lines of your post and thought of the paeds dentist in Galway, but you should know that paeds dentists will deal with this all the time, and are excellent at coaxing co-operation out of kids that don't want to help. (usually, a free sticker helps!). sedation may not actually be needed. a regular dental surgery is a pretty frightening place for most people, never mind kids, but i've seen photos of the place in Galway, and it's like a playground.
how bad is the pain? is it all the time or just when he eats? if it's just when he eats, then it could be 'bandaged' until he gets to an age where it could be done properly.
don't feel bad about it, you try. you haven't failed, the fact that you're on this asking is proof of that. i've seen kids in britland who's parents really didn't care, and it was like talking to a wall.
i'd help, but i'm in Dublin!

btkm8unsl0w5r4

I am feeling for the OP. Its terrible when kids wont cooperate. I was never able to get them to come around but the paediatric dentists are amazing at getting thing done with uncooperative kids, some general dentists have the gift also.

I will PM you a name in galway.