[ichild] Re Family resource plan.dental

In a message dated 9/8/2007 3:11:31 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, ichild@yahoogroups.com writes:Dental work. A 3 yr old can arrive in your home with a mouthful of bad teeth that all need to be repaired, and dental insurance pays only a small fraction of what the repair costs. Don't be surprised to find yourself forking out $5000 in cash for dental work for a newly adopted 3 yr old. I thought that a 3 yr old with bad teeth, well the bad teeth would fall out in another year or two anyway, so why worry about it? Except that the decay can actually start to rot the underlying adult teeth.Elizabeth J.Sorry, as a dental hygienist, I would have a hard time believing that permanent teeth will rot under the baby teeth in a 3 year old. The permanent teeth are not exposed yet to the oral environment. Decayed teeth can abscess; a boy in the United States dies last year from a brain abscess from tooth decay. And they are painful........like an earache in your mouth. No child should have to deal with this. The baby teeth ARE VERY IMPORTANT to maintain a space for the permanent tooth to erupt. While eruption times vary, several baby teeth will be in the mouth until 10 to 12 years old or longer. The first baby teeth are usually not lost until age 6 or 7. (Note: these times vary with the individual). ALSO, decay is no longer necessary (I realize the decay a child comes home with is already a reality). If you are getting NEW cavities, and your dental team is not advising you to use Xylitol in chewing gum ( a sugar substitute that can reduce the population of strep mutans...the acid producing bacteria that demineralize teeth) and MI Paste, look for a new dentist. "Do a better job cleaning your teeth" and "reduce frequency and amount of refined carbohydrates" is still important advice, but we know TONS more about decay prevention. Also, if any of my patients are "high decay risk" (your dentist should "risk asses" your mouth because protocols of how we treat our patients now vary with their individual risk), I will see them more frequently than 6 months ( and I know that insurance only pays two times a year, but extra prevention is a small price to pay for a lifetime of benefit; one extra cleaning may be less than your copay on a filling). YES, you may have huge dental expense. A child that comes to you with decay NEEDS to have it treated. Hopefully this will help you understand the reasons and what other measures can be taken for prevention to ensure future health of the teeth. Now, off of my soap box! Paige************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]To send your message to the ICHILD mailing list, your email goes to: ichild@yahoogroups.comYour ICHILD founder/administrator: Beth PKichild-owner@yahoogroups.com Yahoo! Groups Links<*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ichild/<*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional<*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ichild/join (Yahoo! ID required)<*> To change settings via email: mailto:ichild-digest@yahoogroups.com mailto:ichild-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: ichild-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/