children and dental

[fruit]

Hey everyone,I took my two kids to yhe dentist today,being that we are at a hard time in our lives financially we currently have state health and dental insurance.But to my surprise,I honestly thought that silver mercury filling were banned in the state of california.So my kids get there exam and my son is first,the dentist tells his assistant to get all the equipment ready for fillings,After getting all the equipment he tells me he is gonna give my son 4 fillings i was like okay they are the white fillings right doc,He says no those are cosmetic he will be having silver,I automaticly said no way my son is not getting murcury put in his mouth,Doc just gave me a dirty look and goes on to his next patient which happens to be my daughter in the next room over.Same doctor different assistant,This time the assistant tells me your daughter needs 1 filling and a root canal on her baby tooth,So i told her well i just went though this with my son and my daughter is not getting mercury in her mouth.The assistant looked at me like i was crazy and said "why would you not want her to get a filling?" i said because they have mercury in then,Then she says "no they dont have mercury in them".Next i say well if they dont have mercury then what is in then she replies "they have_____ And a little bit of mercury" ,By this point i am pissed cause they are just trying to make a dollar off my children.I then started to tell her the problems that mercury causes she sat there and argued that mercury was not toxic and it would be harmless for my children have.They did talk me in to her having a root canal.But ,The moment she seen that needle she darted out of the office and screamed they are not sticking that needle in me.So i thought about it for a second and that maybe she is not meant to have that root canal neither.
I can not beleive that they are still allowing these dentists to fill our mouths with this poisen.
I just thought i would share this with yall.
cause i am very angry with the fact that they beleive there is nothing wrong with poisoning us and our children.

[Sheryl]

I'm totally perplexed - why would they ever do a root canal in a baby tooth??? It's not like they will be there long anyhow. I'm really surprised that this is even possible.

I had one cavity a few years ago (2002). It had NEVER hurt, but the tooth had a crack in it. She was drilling, then reached in and said casually "I'm just going to pull out the root for you, it could hurt one day and this will save you. You will need a root canal though". I was shocked and said no. She got all huffy and upset that I would question it. She put in a temporary filling without telling me (she was so sure I'd be back for a root canal) then I went to another dentist to have a proper one put in.

Now 3+ years later the tooth has still NEVER hurt. Just goes to show!

I think some dentist are great, and I'm sure they believe it's all for good. However it all goes back to that saying that goes something like "When all you have is a hammer every problem looks like a nail" or "Ask a surgeous he'll tell you to cut, ask a baker he'll tell you to paint" etc.

Cheers,
Sheryl

PS Sheryl tooth trivia - I still have one baby tooth at age 34! There was no adult tooth underneath it. They said it would drop out by 20 - well I still have it!!!

[greeninlosangeles]

You did a great choice not letting to put poison in your kids mouth. I have HMO and they too do not pay for white fillings. Root canals are awful for the health too, but so are inproper extractions(without cutting of 1 mm of the bone holding tooth.)

[karenisraw]

I wanted to have my amalgum fillings removed because my RVD who is also a dentist says if you can afford to have them removed to do so because you will be better off. He just lectured on heavy metals and silver fillings is something you want to avoid if you can.

I could not figure out how I would ever be able to afford to have them replace by the white ones and then I went to the dentist to have my teeth cleaned and the hygienist said I will have to have my amalgums removed because they were getting old, breaking down and making a crack in one of my teeth. I asked her if my insurance would cover it and she said yes.

I am so excited. I already made the appointments to have it done.

k
:)

[Jamie]

I am completely shocked, too, that they would root canal a baby tooth!!!! If it is causing her pain, wouldn't it be easier to just have them pull it??

[juliebove]

From what I've read/heard on this subject, amalgam fillings are not toxic unless you have severe GERD or some other medical problem that causes you to throw up a lot. It is a reaction between the stomach acid repeatedly washing over the teeth that causes a problem.

Here is some information from the state of WA on the subject:

http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/oehas/amalgam_dental_fillings_12-2003.htm

I got the information about GERD from a person who does have it and had been having all sorts of weird health problems that the Drs. could not sort out. As a last resort, she had her fillings replaced. Didn't help her. Turns out part of her problem was early menopause. But that's not all of it and she still sees many different Drs.

When I lived in CA, the dentist I saw at the time did only the white fillings. I was lucky. My insurance covers them. My current dentist does only the white fillings.

As for the root canal, I looked it up and saw conflicting information. Some sources say in the case of a baby tooth, it should be pulled. Others say a root canal can be done.

The only root canals I've had done were as an adult. The first was was a result of something that happened when the dentist was putting on a temp. crown. As a child, I'd gone to a bad dentist who put in fillings that I probably didn't need. Or so said the subsequent dentist. He also didn't do them right, allowing air under the filling thereby weaking not only the filling but the tooth beneath. This particular tooth was mostly filling and the filling had gotten old and was breaking off. So I needed the crown.

I went to work after the temp. crown was placed and immediately felt a horrible pain shooting from my back tooth (where the crown was) up to the front of my mouth. I called the dentist and was told to take Motrin. And if the pain didn't go away in a couple of hours to come in. Well, the pain only got worse. Turns out the tooth had absecced. I needed a root canal and had to wait to see a specialist. This was some years back and that particular dentist doesn't do them on back teeth.

My husband is in the military and we move around a lot. I've seen dentists in several states. When we were living in NY, I was in our little storage room and an empty computer box fell off a shelf and struck the side of my head. It sort of knocked me out briefly. I saw stars and such. And I felt a gritty sensation in my mouth as if a tooth had broken. Immediately began to feel pain like I did with the abscessed tooth. But I had a dentist appointment the following day so I figured I'd just tell her about it.

Went to the dentist. She said there was no problem. Refused to take an X-Ray. Said I didn't need it. Nothing wrong. Pain continued off and on, sometimes waning a bit, other times putting me in tears. But I learned to live with it because I went back to her again. Once again, she told me nothing was wrong. Again, refused to take an X-Ray.

Then we moved to WA. I hooked up with a new dentist. At the same time, I'd been seeing the Dr. Had this weird nagging pain and pressure on the right side of my face. Couldn't tell if it was a sinus infection, ear infection or abcessed tooth. Dr. felt it was a sinus infection and put me on antibiotic.

The dentist checked my teeth and did X-Rays. Then came back with the cold spray. I was frightened of this stuff. I'd had it once when I broke a tooth off biting into a candy cane on Xmas eve as a teen. When they sprayed it on the tooth, it was so painful I was almost on the ceiling. The reason they sprayed it that time was because I couldn't tell which tooth the pain was coming from. Turns out I had cracked the tooth under a filling.

But this time, although I was feeling pain and pressure on the right side of my face, the one tooth actually had no feeling in it at all. The dentist said this happens when the nerve is totally dead or very nearly so. He said this often comes about from a blow to the head. Said often the person doesn't even realize there is tooth damage at the time. And indeed my filling had broken, very badly. This is probably what I felt in my mouth at the time. Had a root canal done and also a crown. No more pain!

So there is more than one reason why a root canal might need to be done. It's not always because of an abcess.