My 4 year old having baby teeth extracted

[hetta]

Scared,nervous and ashamed, my baby must have his teeth extracted, yes he drank soda drinks, ate sweets, does this make me a bad mom? I don't think so, as I do love him to the moon and back, but I have neglected him for letting his teeth get this bad......Its not really going to help him by feeling sorry for what I've done is it, I need to take charge and need to get this sorted out asap, should have done that a long time ago.
I am a first time mom and we learn as we go, this is a very hard lesson for me, and will forever be sorry that I did not do the right thing from the first moment his first tooth made its appearance.
Did any mom had to go through this, what was your experience and how did you face the dentist?

 

[comfortdentist]

A dentist view.....
I have never given any of my children sodas, sweets etc at a young age so decay was never a problem for any of the four so please understand that this is a highly preventable problem. Now as a dentist I see children who have caries and sometimes it is severe. Again while I know that this is a diet issue with rare exceptional I do educate the parents but I don't scold or embarrass them. The difficult time is when a parent elects not to treat the child when they have lots of caries or even worse when it is diagnosed in one child. The parents are educated then a couple of years later they show up with the same problem in the younger sibling. Now we are into a situation where I need to report the neglect to child protection services. This is required by law.

 

[hetta]

Thank you, believe me embarrassed we definitely feel even without a dentist saying or intending to say something. Well our dentist appointment was yesterday, my son had sedation and a lot of work was done on his teeth, root canal on all his molars, 4 top front tooth extracted , fillings done and 2 1/2 hours later my son has pearly white teeth again. The staff and dentist were absolutely amazing.
I do believe it is an educational problem, If I just knew then what I new now things would have been a lot different. Believe me, I started changing things right away.
I will always be sorry that my baby had to go through this due to my faults and decisions I made, my heart broke in pieces yesterday and I just prayed and prayed yesterday that all will be fine...and it was.
From now on I WILL make a point of doing the right thing, more regular visits will also be done.
I am just happy that everything went well and my son is doing just fine, he is eating well and slept right through the night.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank all dentists out there for doing what they are doing, especially the ones attending to my boy yesterday.
All I am saying don't judge too soon, we are just humans and sometimes we make mistakes and learn the hard way but hopefully everyone going through this learns a lesson, I definitely did and promised myself it will not be a mistake again.
Good luck to all the moms out there who must go through something like this.

 

[robertsonic]

@hetta ensure his teeth get a brush with fluoride toothpaste last thing before bedtime and cut out in between meal sugary snacks and drinks. No more decay! Avoid stocking these snacks in kitchen cupboards! Problem solved! Ian robertson retired dentist