Dr #5 - Root canals postponed for now - and we watch very carefully - and follow the diet with zero tolerance for deviation

We got the xrays ... L cried and squirmed but the staff was just awesome. The nurse initially told me, dont worry we wont do xrays today.

I grabbed her arm and said "NO we WILL do xrays today" .. she looked at me startled .. and I explained what I wanted, the other diagnoses, the other xrays .. when I got to the diet part, she tried to keep her face straight but I could see her mouth move in a smirk. She said it has only been 3 months you wont see any change... if the child is scared then we wont force it ...  I said "I NEED the xrays" .. can you PLEASE try?

So, we practiced with the bitewings .. L was such a trooper .. he gagged a little and I held my breath, hoping and hoping that he would sit still. She offered him a bribe of a coin which he could insert into a machine for a reward ...

L was suddenly very interested .. he likes winning and he likes coins ...

She was absolutely fabulous .. she got him to hold the bitewing in his mouth and jingled her pocket at him reminding him about the coins  told him to hold still, counting and rushed to get the xrays of top and bottom!!!! both sides!!!!

L got his coin!!

The doc came in, looked at the xrays and said that there were small cavities on the upper and lower right quadrant - but nothing to worry about for now. Those could be left and observed. Previous diagnosis had been for a root canal on the bottom premolar.

The issue was the left lower and top. He said that the premolar had a deep shadow, the nerve and pulp were intact, the dentin seemed to be intact over the nerve, however, given how close the decay was to the nerve, he recommended a baby root canal.

We compared the xrays from 3 months ago.

All the previous diagnoses had been based on this 1 xray that did not factor in the current state of his teeth - and this is what I have been fighting with 4 dentists for - current xrays so we can compare and make decision based on comparison BEFORE he is sedated ...

He said that those xrays were excellent, they were from an advanced kind of machine that gets great detail, however, it can also skew information and make cavities look deeper than they are .. he said that he thought that the cavities looked the same ...

In my ears I heard "cavities are arrested"- which is what the diet is supposed to do - however, it takes 3-4 months for recovery - if even possible.

I explained what I had been doing, showed him the supplements, tooth powder (L and  I now use tooth powder to brush and not tooth paste), diet changes - bone broth, no grains, sprouted lentils, liver pate .. he asked if L tolerated the tooth powder and I smiled and L and said "Yes, he does such a wonderful job with it and he is SO wonderful with the fish oil" L puffed up proudly and smiled.

He said that the diet changes were great, tooth powder fantastic if I could get L to do it and he also mentioned the ACT mouth wash at which point I smiled at L again and said "oh yes, he does that for 1 full minute every day and he is fabulous about it"

I asked the doc if we could wait and observe. Doc asked if L had any symptoms of pain and I said no. Doc said he was ok if I wanted to wait, as long as we brush daily and floss now and then .. NOW AND THEN??? I exploded? We floss after EVERY meal, we have xylitol gum before naps, we dont eat stickly fruit ..

Xylitol gum? says the doc .. yes, that is excellent .. that will arrest further cavity development.

I asked told the doc that I examine his gum every day, as long as it is pink and firm, I can safely assume no abscess?

The doc interrupted my monologue "Is he your only child?"

At which point I said "Can you tell I am obsessive"?

He laughed and said "Well - when you have more than 1, this level of attention to detail is not possible'

Yes, He is my one and only and i absolutely do not want sedation and drilling if I can avoid it ..

Are was with me and he took over the questioning now, asking what if L suddenly developed pain, does the doc have sedation? Yes, said the doc and he has the ETo2 monitor that I had questioned the other anesthesiologist about and annoyed him .. I very nearly kissed the doc when he said ETo2.

Not to digress even further but I had a ped anesthesiologist call me and discussed in detail what monitoring is best standard practice etc. I knew that pulse ox takes too long and wanted ETo2 but the sedation doc with doc 2 did not offer it and got annoyed with me for asking ...

I was not happy but what to do ..

Anywho,  this doc, doc #5 is in network(!!!), has sedation although the dates are booked pretty far out and will do the white caps for us. I explained my issues with the metal caps about absorption of metal and blah blah ..

He looked at me thoughtfully and explained that the caps were stainless steel and nickel but yes there are risks of nickel allergies so if I wanted he would do the zirconium caps ...

And he used sedation specialists that used ETo2!!!

I WAS SOLD!!

The doc examined L's teeth with the mirror and pokey thing. He said that arrested decay looked black. L's decay looks black so I asked him if that meant it was arrested. He said that since the decay was deep, it was possible that the top was black and there was brown decay beneath ... however ... He was willing to work with me on observing L, he said that in case L's face puffed up suddenly with no warning (he said there would be a lot of warning before this point, lots of sleepless nights), however, if it did, he could do an emergency filling that would last 20 mins ...

Are asked him if he had ever seen remineralization of dentin. Doc said he has seen it in the enamel but not in the dentin, however, he has seen cavities arrest and not progress - but only if the enamel was untouched. This was my opinion as well - The minute you drill the enamel and break it, the tooth loses its integrity and ability to heal itself - as you can see, I have granted myself a DDS.

Are asked him what the chance of arrest in the cavities were like.

Doc said that you have to look at the child as a whole and not as a tooth alone. As a whole L is healthy, alert and diet and oral hygiene seemed to be good. His immune system seemed to be good - given this, the chance of arrest was good. He gave it a higher chance of arrest than something else which I cant remember. He said that if L had been sickly, he would not have risked an oral infection as his immune system was already fighting other things. Another of his patients, a young child, had 1 kidney and blood cancer and he said for him, I have to drill and fill everything - we cant load the immune system anymore. My heart ached when I heard about that little boy .... it still does when I think about him and his parents .. how much I have to be thankful for ... 1 perfect little boy with 2 spots of decay in his teeth .. thats all ...

Then he asked about the sedation doc that we were going to use and I explained my issues with his approach. Apparently there have been issues with children having sort of issue as the pulse ox has reports oxygen insufficiency with a 2 min delay ...

Phew ....

He asked me who my deposit was with and he offered to call the doctor and tell her what he observed and that he was comfortable working with the family to observe the child. I was so glad that he offered and again had the urge to hug him - an urge I NEVER get as I do not like my personal space breached ...

Then he walked L out to the goody room where L could use his tokens ... L was in heaven!! The doc explained all his options to him and then continued to talk to me - he asked me how I found him and I told him that his reviews were fabulous and I had been recommended by another mother etc ...

I came home, called doc#2 and cancelled. I will get my deposit back from the doc but the admin did not know about the sedation doc if he would return the deposit of $650 ... lets see ....

So .. in my world .. at the current time .. there is peace ...

And bone broth cooking on the stove and lentils sprouting and drying and raw yogurt being made in the oven and liver pate to be hidden into L's soup this evening ...

and ... and ...

I had some myself .. I disguised it for myself in the vegetarian soup and I had some too ... yuck, throw up yuck ... but I had it ... I do what I make the boy do .... and I believe it is good nutrition ....

On that note ... good bye for now ....