Would a dentist fill a child's cavity on first visit?

My daughter (8) has what appear to be several large cavities in her teeth. I've made an appointment for her to see a local dentist next week, but I was just wondering whether the dentist is likely to actually do any treatment at this first appointment? I know under normal circumstances they wouldn't and would want to just make the child feel comfortable being in the office etc, but my daughter is having a lot of pain in one of the teeth and I'm having to give her regular calpol. I just wondered whether in this instance the dentist would want to fix that tooth on the first visit so that she's not in pain any longer?

Would a dentist fill a child's cavity on first visit?
I think probably if your daughter is in a lot of pain then the dentist would definitely want to do SOMETHING to help with the pain rather than wait until a future appointment. Unfortunately, if your daughter is having a lot of pain, it probably means the cavity is fairly extensive and you may even be looking at having to have the tooth extracted......but I'm not an expert, so don't take my word for it! I hope your daughter feels better soon, there's nothing worse than toothache, especially when she's so young.
Reply:call the office and ask if the visit is long enough for a filling - normally they would have scheduled her for only a 15 minutes colsultation and would not have time to fix it - ask them for a longer appt let them know she is in severe pain and at least one tooth needs immediate care.
Reply:Some will and some won't. Best thing to do is call and ask them. Took me a while to find a dentist who will treat on first visits, seems most of them just want to make you keep coming back to get your money. Just my opinion......Good Luck!
Reply:white stuff
Reply:normal procedure is to have an exam first, then set up to have the cavities fixed. however, if she is in pain, they may do it. has she ever been to this dentist before? be prepared that they may do something just for the simple fact that she is in pain. do not use anbesol, it can actually lead to infection.
Reply:yes after x-rays if you tell them at time of appointment that she is in pain -- otherwise they schedule appointments closer together. They need to make sure enough time has been allotted.
Reply:You should call the dentist and ask him. Explain the situation and he might be able to work something out. If you bring it up at the last minute he'll probably have appointments waiting after yours and not be able to do it.
Reply:yes, they should fill them if they are a good dentist, and you should be able to go with her when this is done to be there for her
Reply:Oh, yes, I have been through that when I was 8 years old. Does she have a calcium deficiency problem? You know, not enough calcium for strong teeth. I was told that some people have strong teeth and others, weak teeth. kind of like some people have strong bones that can heal quickly if they broke and others not. It happens.


Anyway, yes, some dentist can fill in a cavity if it is that bad and they want to do it as quickly as possible to try to save it. Why wait? they may want to take the weakest tooth and fill that one up and then wait til your next appointment (which might be the next week) to fill in the others.


I am telling you. Do not prolong this.....to an 8 year old, the sooner this cavity is filled, the better.
Reply:Your daughter is eight, she's never been to the dentist before, and she already has several large cavities. Sounds to me like you and your daughter need a lesson in dental hygiene. Your daughter should have been taken to the dentist long ago, when she first started getting teeth. You needed to brush those teeth and not put her to bed with bottles, if she needed a bottle it was supposed to be water only no juice or formula.





Growing up did your daughter drink a lot of sugary drinks like soda and fruit juice? Does she eat a lot of candy? Then she needs to be especially vigilant about brushing at least twice a day (I know 3 times isn't always possible with school but perhaps she could brush when she gets home from school)





If your daughter is only eight and she already has poor dental hygiene how is she going to be when she gets older? I know some parents believe that baby teeth don't matter so let them rot out of her head but no baby teeth are like practice teeth and they also help kids get into the routine of brushing and flossing. Do you want your daughter to be working in some factory with yellow, green, black and missing teeth because other jobs where she needed to interact with people wouldn't hire her because her teeth looked too gross. Not to mention her breath!





Get your daughter to the dentist quickly and make sure they fill all her cavities, check her other teeth for weak spots and cavities, also clean all her other teeth fully, and then get her on a strict schedule of brushing.
Reply:More than likely, they will not do the filling that day. You say that your daughter is terrified of going to the dentist, so you need to work on that before she goes. DO NOT use the word "shot"!! All you're going to do is scare her more %26amp; are just asking for trouble. This is what I tell all kids that come into my office that are getting a filling done for the first time. Tell her that there is a cavity bug hiding in some of her teeth %26amp; that is what is causing the pain. The dentist is going to use a "tooth washer" %26amp; it's just like a car wash but for teeth. It sprays cold water out really hard %26amp; fast, just like at the car wash. Then they'll put some tooth soap on to make sure it's really clean, then they put on tooth glue (nothing like they use at school) %26amp; then they put in either white or silver playdoh that's made for teeth. Let her know that it's VERY easy! If you the parent act nervous than your child will pick up on this %26amp; be scared. If the dentist allows you to come back into the room, sit in the chair %26amp; only speak unless they ask you a direct question! If they do filling, don't keep asking her if she's ok or she'll think that there is something going on that shouldn't be ok. Hope this information helps! Good luck
Reply:First you must inform the dentist and after that


1-we are educated in a way that we can understand patinet caracter. So , no dentist is saist, relax.


2-There are other ways of pain relief, if the patient is too scary and tooth stuation is too painful, we have other drugs to relief the pain without killing the patient from panicks.


3-Usually parents are so afraid of dentists that this also makes the child axious. Dont show your child ur worries. Act as if all is good and ur baby is at a heavenly place.
Reply:I'm a dentist.





At the age of eight, treatment is somewhat of a crapshoot. Some eight year-olds are very well-adjusted and tolerate discomfort. Others are very apprehensive and/or high-strung, and do not. You are a better judge of your daughter's personality than the doctor. If, however, your doctor attempts any treatment and decides that the child should be referred elsewhere, do not object. He/she knows better than you.





It is unlikely that any treatment would be rendered on her first visit unless there are emergent problems that require immediate care--especially if your child is a potentially difficult patient. There are a number of prescription medications that can be given to children to provide anxiolysis, however dentists vary greatly in their comfort with this. I tend to shy away from prescribing anxiolytics to children because their responses can be highly unpredictable. I do, however, readily administer nitrous-oxide prior to and during treatment, and have found it to help significantly in calming pediatric patients. Even more important than nitrous, however, is proper injection technique with good topical anesthesia prior to the injection.





Some children, however, simply will not allow any sort of work to be performed. In such cases, I refer them to pediatric dentists. They are specialists who have two years additional training beyond dental school in addressing the needs of children, and are generally more comfortable with prescribing oral medications for children. Having had some anesthesiology experience myself, I will say this about pediatric dentists: a lot of them like to administer "oral sedation", which is just plain stupid. Oral uptake of medication is highly unpredictable, especially in kids, and it is therefore exceedingly difficult to titrate dosages to desired effect. Oversedation, while rare, is a distinct possibility. Unfortunately, as far as I know, pediatric dentists are not trained in advanced life-support techniques should a child become apneic. Furthermore, when sedated orally, there is generally no IV access to administer medications should they be needed on an emergency basis.





Most pediatric dentists, as far as I know, are perfectly willing to use papoose boards and other forms of physical restraints while working on children. I think that the practice is barbaric and should be outlawed. As a parent, you have the right to refuse such treatment.





Finally, if your child is too much of a problem for a pediatric dentist in an office-setting, many of them have operating room privileges at local hospitals and can perform dental work with the child under general anesthesia (administered by an anesthesiologist). Believe it or not, this is an excellent option as most if not all of the child's dental needs can be addressed in one shot.

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