10 year old

[Anxiousmama99]

Need some advice, my 10 year old was registered to a nhs dentist but they went private 2 & a half years ago at the time he had a bit of crowding but dentist said the adult ones will push through not to worry and they did.
I have struggled to get him another nhs dentist embarrassingly, I tried 50 miles radius and none and i couldn’t afford private.
I have finally managed to get him one and he’s being seen this week but I am deathly anxious about it.
One of his baby molars snapped at the root and the receptionist said not to worry as he’s not in pain and eating fine and that its likely the adult tooth will asborb it as it comes through, he also has a baby tooth that’s stuck and not coming away and a cavity or two on another molar,
Is it likely social services would be called for neglect? I have tried so hard to find a nhs dentist and I fear he will need quite a bit of work done and it’ll be seen as neglect.

 

[Gordon]

No, social services won't be interested. They do (sort of) get involved if you fail to attend hospital appointments for dental treatment, but not for not taking him for regular exams.

You might want to have a good look at his diet though, that's an awful lot of decay in 2 years.

 

[Anxiousmama99]

He’s a type one diabetic, he doesn’t eat sugar unless he’s in a hypo which unfortunately happens a lot! He also had issues with high blood sugars for a while when diagnosed which I think has majorly contributed (should of mentioned this in the post) he doesn’t like brushing in the middle of the night, so I think that’s his issue and obviously can’t brush at school. ive tried getting him to swill with mouthwash/water but he won’t do it at 3/4am. Any ideas what I could try for night time please? He is very good at brushing in the daytime/nighttime.

 

[Anxiousmama99]

Sorry forgot to mention he is also autistic. Do you think I should get him a prescribed higher fluoride toothpaste?

 

[Gordon]

The diabetes has no effect on decay rates. It does have an effect on gum disease but that's a (potential) problem for much later in his life, so don't worry about it now.

The autism might well do, autistic folks can have strange (to us normies!) habits regarding eating, keeping food in their mouths for very long intervals during eating, rather than swallowing it after chewing for example.

I'm happy to discuss this further with you more privately if you want to PM me.

I don't understand why you want to brush his teeth at 4am? I wouldn't be very receptive to that either
If you can give his teeth a good brush at a normal bedtime that's fine. Despite what people have been conditioned to think toothbrush is pretty irrelevant when it comes to tooth decay, it's almost all about diet.

Absolutely a high fluoride toothpaste will be a good thing if you can get him to use it. Also fluoride drops or tablets, again, if you can persuade him to use them.

 

[Anxiousmama99]

Ahhh okay I think I understand better, yes at times he keeps food longer in his mouth for sensory reasons (especially when it’s things like grapes & oranges so that would make more sense! ) I will have a little chat about it with him and see if we can find some alternatives maybe peas?
I was thinking the sugar staying in his mouth at night when treating hypos, but I will stop that now. I will get the 5000 pm fluoride toothpaste he should be alright with it, thank you you have been a really big help.

 

[Anxiousmama99]

Just an update been this morning, dentist was lovely she’s referred him to the hostipal to have three small fillings (due to the way his adult teeth havencome in) and removal of the baby tooth that’s not budging she said it was the gum that’s grown a bit and stopped it coming out due to the overcrowding. Said it was best under hostipal due to his autism as he can have it all done at once, and mentioned more milk & try and get him to eat fish. So that’s the plan, it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I thought to be honest. She said they can be all saved easily. So now to fix his diet…

 

[Gordon]

Ahhh okay I think I understand better, yes at times he keeps food longer in his mouth for sensory reasons (especially when it’s things like grapes & oranges so that would make more sense! ) I will have a little chat about it with him and see if we can find some alternatives maybe peas?

Basically anything he holds in his mouth for prolonged periods will be a decay risk, even peas would he be happy chewing some chewing gum instead? You don't want him swallowing it though!

Spoiler alert don't read the bottom paragraph if you've got a weak stomach!

Thanks for posting the update, a GA and getting everything sorted in one go is the way to go, feel free to ask any questions you like about the diet stuff. I'm happy to answer anything as best I can.































It could be a lot worse, I used to have a profoundly autistic patient who would basically regurgitate her stomach contents and chew on them for hours; the results on her teeth were spectacularly bad!