Cavities & Kids

I saw that article, and I was just shaking my head.
How do you NOT brush your kids teeth?
My childhood dentist memories are definitely not fond ones. He was an older man, old fashioned office, not really hip to using anaesthesia, even in kids. It was pretty unpleasant.
Our kids have started regular dental care. So far so good. We don't give sugary snacks, limit eating to meals and 2 discreet snacks a day, and they brush twice a day under our direct supervision.

 

I am worried that there might be some fraud going on. Call me paranoid, but, there is a clear financial motive for over-treating teeth and making up cavities that might not exist.

 

My mum had very poor teeth growing up, partly due to a year long stay in hospital when she was 12 - at the time, the standard thing to bring a sick kid was sugary drinks.

My dad is a dentist.

These two things led to me having very good dental hygiene as a kid, and regularly visiting the dentist. I will be 42 soon, and so far have never had a cavity or a filling.

 

when i was a kid, i remember brushing my teeth twice a day. I have dentures on the top and am working on the bottom plate. I ended up with dentures when my gums started receding from my teeth leaving a big gap and i became self consious.
my daughter is 4. My wife and she brush her teeth 2 to 3 times a day and she went to the dentist last week and she had 2 cavities.

 

Oddly enough, Cyn, at my last dental visit, the hygienist advised that I should floss differently, and I have started using those harp/pick things. I am stunned by how much simpler and more effective they are at getting in between the tooth and the gumline than just using floss. Also the little sharp end (intentionally) serves as a very good tooth pick.

 

I probably fall into Cyn's category as far as how often. Admittedly, I hadn't been to the dentist in around 7 or 8 years until last week, as a result of moving so often (getting a phone call to confirm your appointment when you live 1100 miles away from your last spot results in a lot of missed appointments). I finally went in due to some wisdom tooth pain and got a cleaning. Amazingly, after all those years, no cavities, just a "you should floss more regularly". Like others here, I floss far more than I used to thanks to discovering Plackers, which I started keeping in my desk at work in case something got stuck.

 

Honestly, I don't remember any specific dentist, when I was growing up. I assume my parents took me for check-ups, but no one stands out. I do remember being terrified of them, at the time. I still have most of my own teeth, though, so I guess I was doing a passable job of taking care of them. I do remember my previous dentist, however. He was a nice enough fellow, but did seem to remind me, far too many times, for my liking, that I had dental insurance, when he suggested that I needed work. I brush, floss and use this pre-brush treatment, at night, and try to use mouth wash, during the day, whenever I can. I, truly, believe that my teeth are in better shape now, than they were years ago. I have two grown sons, who grew up, with regular dental visits, and who have great teeth.
Addressing genuinegirly's reference to kids needing surgery to repair their teeth, my wife is a first grade teacher, and has reminded some parents, countless times about the sugary snacks, and inapropriate foods they pack in their kids lunch boxes. By that I mean the parents who, actually, provide the kids with lunches. Some of them have to pack their own. I'm off topic a bit, here, but I just need to empahasize that some kids are saddled with some poor excuses for parents. Dental hygiene, or lack thereof is, but one of their problems. With all the empasis, on TV, on white smiles, I think that we're goaded, whether we realize it or not, to try and achieve that.

 

Yeah my dentist is constantly after me about this.
She recommends an electric; I just haven't had time and motivation to go get one.
I'll try your tip. Maybe just changing my grip will do the trick.

 

When I was a kid, I was given a lot of tetracycline, which totally fucked up my teeth. I am the dentists best friend. I think I put his kid's through college.

There are things no amount of hygene can overcome, but that is no reason not to practice, and teach, good hygene. We always have, and believe me it pays off big time in the long run, although at times it is a struggle... "I don't want to brush my teeth! Waaaa!"

 

While I was blessed with straight teeth, I was also cursed with soft teeth. I've had a few cavities filled in my youth. In fact, some of them have had to be replaced over the past few years. I've also had some chipping and cracking start to happen.

I should get more check ups and cleanings but I just never remember to make the appointments.

 

I neglected oral hygiene for too long, and I got to have super duper deep clean. More fun than a barrel of formaldehyde. Woo Hoo.

Please, Charlatan, get a checkup.

 

I've had three cavities drilled and filled. I last saw the dentist 3 years ago. Now it's mandatory to go for at least a cleaning every 6 months unless you want to more than double the cost of insurance, which will help the lazy morons like me out.

 

They screwed up the sealant when I was a kid so I wound up with more or less the whole surface of one or two teeth about to go, but those were literally hanging on by a thread by then so the dentist said yankem in the next week and don't worry about it since the tooth under was spotless. I did nonetheless have one or two "normal" cavities worked on once as a very small child, which was worse than you'd expect given that I wasn't numbed. I don't know why, I don't know HOW, but the sick sonofabitch made sure I felt EVERYTHING and when I (thinking it was a mistake) choked out I could feel it all they didn't do shit.

Shortly after I also found out I'm violently reactive to SOMETHING in most all toothpaste, leaving my mouth burning oh so minty-painfully and giving me open ulcers wherever the toothpaste spent too much time before I rinsed it out. So I quit using toothpaste for about a decade. Eventually Crest came out with alcohol free mouthwash that didn't give me problems and I'd dip a toothbrush in a cupful of that.

I lasted a long time that way until I had to have a fair amount of work done at the gumline. The dentist actually said that I'd made the right call since inflammation THAT severe probably would've destroyed my teeth far worse than pasteless brushing and if I hadn't given up completely for a while I probably would have been just fine. Around that time my mother also finally found a toothpaste I don't react to (biotene) that I started using so I'm back to having teeth good enough that my dentist told me even a top flight electric brush wouldn't make any difference.

I did wind up with one last set of extensive cavities though, before I got my ulcer/reflux/whatever under control I wound up doing a lot of throwing up and no matter how quick you are with the baking soda rinse and brush to neutralize that it still does some serious damage to your teeth. I got spared the lecture when they found out that I'd been shouting my lunch over the white phone almost daily for about half a year.