Dear Dr. Ellie,
Help! My 6 year old daughter has eight cavities. Or so we have been told by a children’s dental specialist. I am going to begin your dental system for our family, however, I want to know if there is a children’s version of the recommended products. Or a recommended children’s dosage.
We also have a three year old and a six month old.
One of the cavities is obvious and can be easily seen, the others were only visible in her x-rays. None were into the nerve. We have been advised to either use sedation, quadrant dentistry four separate times or to have her put under anesthesia and do it all at once. I’m SO worried about making the right decision! I feel horrible that this has happened to her! I was NOT comfortable with the advice given me by the specialist though. We have no fluoride in our water. She never even told
me that fluoride mouth washes were a possibility and recommended 8 fillings and a crown.
I realize that without seeing my daughter or her x-rays that you cannot advise me completely. I have attached her proposed treatment plan from the specialist on the chance that you might have some comment on it. I have read your blog and would appreciate ANY advice you might have for our situation!!
Thank you for your concern in this matter, I very much appreciated the
content on your blog.
J
Hi J,
I believe the best advice I can give you is to slow things down.Cavities take about a year to form and natural repairs using the products I recommend will take about three to six months.
You need a new way to look after teeth but you can start today and begin reversing the damage today!!!
What need to find some xylitol and ACT mouth rinse or a close relation of this rinse.
If you have a health food store they should have xylitol granules and possibly some 100 percent xylitol gum.
You will all need five exposures to xylitol each day. This way you can begin immediately.
The family should all use xylitol to rid the mouth of bacteria since these bacteria travel between you all.
Everyone needs at least 5 separate exposures to xylitol each day just a little bit for the baby and a little more for the other children ( about a gram each time).
You can dissolve xylitol granules in water and sip it after meals it is frequency that is important.
Adults and the 6 year old can eat a piece of gum (one exposure) or a couple of mints ( another exposure) or enjoy a strawberry dipped in granular xylitol at the end of dinner ( another exposure)….etc… Strive
for five exposures a day!!
You need to find Crest Regular toothpaste.Call stores and see if you can find some without any additives to it.Listerine should be the simple rinse to find. (Only the adults need to useListerine it is not necessary for a 6 year old) Make sure your clean all the family toothbrushes in Listerine, rinse them in running water and store dry and away from the toilet area of your bathroom.
A fluoride rinse is essential for adults and the 6 year old she will brush with Crest and then rinse and spit with the fluoride rinse.Perhaps you can draw up a chart with five columns to control the xylitol exposures and check these off each day ensure the adequate amount and frequency.
This is very important then xylitol will quickly reduce the numbers of bacteria that are destroying her teeth.
The good rinsing routine will work with this and help put minerals back into the teeth.
Perhaps you could return to your dentist in 6-8 weeks and ask that they would consider to check progress and maybe re-take the X rays in another 6-8 weeks.
This would give you some time with this system. Her teeth will not repair unless you are diligent twice a day rinsing and xylitol especially good after meals.
If your daughter has pain this is different, but if not, and you are diligent the teeth will not get worse and this system may help you to avoid the fillings ( perhaps the crown will need to be done I assume this is the one on a lower baby molar. Obviously I cannot diagnose from a computer but it sounds as if there are four cavities on the new molar teeth ( they should heal OK) and four on the baby molar teeth. One may be worse than the others the one they want to crown.
I did not get the attachment of the treatment plan but I am thinking about the most likely teeth in the mouth at 6 years old…..in any case, you may want to give this a try and slow down/possibly arrest/ possibly reverse the problems for most of the teeth.
Let me know if you need more help,
Ellie
26 Corporate Woods
Rochester, NY 14623
Categories: Cavities
Dr. Ellie "The family should all use xylitol to rid the mouth of bacteria since these bacteria travel between you all."Everyone needs at least 5 separate exposures to xylitol each day just a little bit for the baby and a little more for the other children ( about a gram each time)."In my family its hard to convince everyone. My dad often misses brushing, has to be reminded to take his closys, only brushes in the day. My dad also refuses to floss or use xylitol gum/mints. Good luck getting everyone in your family to use the zellies system. I feel weird pushing the zellies system on my dad, since I'm supposed to refer to my dad not the other way around. My dad's teeth and gums are in bad condition and I don't want him to pass the bacteria on to me. So I guess I'm being selfish trying to get my dad to take care of his teeth and gums.