Child losing an adult molar under regular dental care?

Mango Joe

Hi All,

I feel there is something wrong here and I'm unsure of how to handle it.

My 13 year old has attended their local Health Board Dental Clinic on the usual schedule with all appointments kept.

Some time ago they got a filling in an upper molar and experienced a lot of pain a some months later.

We bought them back and the Dentist who originally filled the tooth refused to considered that there could be any issue with it as "she had filled it herself and knew it was done right" - She has a very strong personality and is very sure of herself - To a noticeable extent....

She took x rays and checked everything very carefully. But could find no issue. Certainly no issue with her own prior work. We were left concerned and anxious with no answers. The pain was severe enough that pain relief medication was needed regularly.

Other avenues were explored via the GP and even (in desperation) a Chiropractor in case it was pain referred from elsewhere.

On a return visit to the Health Board Dental Clinic the usual Dentist was on her day off. - A different Dentist was able to tell us within a few minutes that there was actually a serious issue with this tooth and it was dead.

She said we were looking at consultations with an Endo Dentist, root canal work or extraction - Dependant on this Dentists assessments.

To my mind there is something very wrong with this scenario.

Also it is to my mind suspicious that the moment a different Dentist has a look the issue is suddenly apparent despite the main Dentist drawing a complete blank after a very prolonged assessment of their prior work?

I feel that there is an absence of proper duty of care and surely a molar that the child only has in the past few years should never have been left to die under proper, dental assessment and work?

I'm into my forties and aside from a few fillings have no dental issues despite been less then responsible with my teeth when I was younger.

Just to mention - We would be very firm on regular tooth brushing etc at home normally - Would have been very disappointed re the filling but this is a whole different territory.

Just looking for your thoughts and advice, I feel that there's more to this story than meets the eye and I feel its very unfair for a child to lose a permanent tooth at such a young age due to someone else's negligence.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Hi there poster. There is a stick at the top of the forum that will answer a lot of these questions

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057273551

Mango Joe

Thanks Fitzgeme.

Well if it is just a very unfortunate eventuality then I can accept it a lot more easily as a circumstance of life..... From your post I can see that indeed its not as unlikely a scenario as I had first considered.

Could I please ask should we passively allow an extraction on a 13 year old or opt to try and save this tooth in so far as is possible?

Getting different opinions on this - eg people saying the bite & opposing tooth might be affected and so on?

Any other potential adverse effects with wisdom teeth coming in and so on. They've very slightly prominent teeth - would orthodontics serve to fill a gap?

Probably not asking the right questions here.....Just want to choose the very best option for my kid really.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Its very common Mango Jo,,,espically in young patient because of the large pulps in the teeth.

I would if at all possible try to salvage the tooth however there are some instances (like if braces are needed ) where removal may be a more sensible option.

You should get a number of opinions.