Reoccuring abcess in child

[lilibetla]

Hi, my 9 year old daughter is having real difficulty over the last year with her teeth. She has always seen the dentist everu 6 months and everything has always been perfect, and they've always commented on how clean her teeth are. Suddenly last christmas, she developed acute pain in a baby molar on the top. There was a large abcess on the gum too, it was red with a white head. She was given antibiotics and the tooth was filled. The abcess kept coming back though and due to covid restrictions she couldn't see the dentist for a long time. During lockdown she was prescribed antibiotics three times for this abcess. It retured about a month ago and the dentist decided to pull the tooth. It was very unpleasant for her and she was very shaken but we assured her it was for the best and the abcess (or mount Everest as she calls it) would be gone forever. Aparently we lied because though the tooth is gone the abcess has returned in pretty much the same place by the gap.

She is suddenly very under the weather, lethargic and grouchy but no temperature. I'll get her in to see the dentist ASAP but looking for any advice in the mean time. It never really seems to cause her pain but more the anxiety of having to go in to the dentist which she now hates and like I say generally feeling unwell, I imagine from the infection. I guess my biggest fear as her mother is that this is indicative of an underlying condition? She is normally in good health, she's tall for her age and BMI is perfect, she has a good diet and good oral health. She has mild asthma and eczema and a weird reoccuring issue where her toenails split in down the middle (I've never known if the two issues are linked, teeth and nails?)

Any advice for this extremely dentally phobic and anxious mama would be gratefully recieved, thanks!

 

[Gordon]

Did they get all the infected tooth out? How is the tooth in front/behind the abscessed one? Usually baby teeth decay between the teeth, so if one goes the next door neighbour may also be affected
Clean teeth can still decay unfortunately it's one of the great myths put out by toothpaste makers I think

 

[16andbadteethandgums]

Clean teeth can still decay unfortunately it's one of the great myths put out by toothpaste makers I think

If you don’t mind me asking, how exactly? I always thought if you clean the tooth from food and bacteria colonies and leave it alone a little while without eating, it ’remineralises’

 

[Gordon]

Plaque reforms on teeth within about 20 minutes. If you feed it fermentable carbohydrates frequently enough, then you'll get decay.