[memason]

Can someone tell me why a 3 year old needs 4 root canals ??? Unbelievable!

Hawaiian girl, 3, dies after dental procedure - CNN.com

[angiefox10]

I can't..... I don't understand the pulling of baby teeth either. Maybe there is a reason... I don't get it.

[Villages PL]

About 15 years ago, I was told by a new dentist that I had eight cavities. I went back to my old (retiring) dentist and he told me he didn't see any cavities. I went to a third dentist and he saw something entirely different. I went to a fourth dentist and he agreed with the second dentist that I didn't need anything done. The first dentist had even told me that I might need a root canal on my front tooth. Here I am 15+ years later and have never needed any of that work done.

They have a name for it: It's known as "aggressive dentistry".

[Bogie Shooter]

Within the last year 20/20 or one of that type show covered unnecessary dental work on children. This is big business in Appalachia.

[saratogaman]

Dumb dentist...dumber parents to go thru with it...

[rubicon]

I do not believe I have ever heard of a child that young undergoing a root canal. It can be that it was necessary and it can be that the child had an allergy to the medicine and that is what the trial will determine.

God rest her soul

[memason]

Originally Posted by rubicon

I do not believe I have ever heard of a child that young undergoing a root canal. It can be that it was necessary and it can be that the child had an allergy to the medicine and that is what the trial will determine.

God rest her soul

Yeah, the dentist determined it was necessary, but I have a problem with doing that to a 3 year old that will lose all of those teeth in a few years anyway. Not sure how parents could go along with something like this.

It just seems like such as waste to me...

[mr and mrs bike]

I certainly don't know all the details except its a sad story. In young children when they have cavities the nerve or pulp tissue can be removed to prevent infection or loss of the tooth. Again, I don't know but would guess to have all that work scheduled at one time the child might have had bottle mouth. Most often that is caused by putting a child to bed with a bottle full of juice. I think a lengthy procedure should be done in a hospital with a team in place. I doubt that a dental office is equipped if something goes wrong. I know I will get dumped on for saying this but IF this was an accurate treatment plan for this little child someone wasn't paying attention. This amount of decay doesn't happen over night.

[2BNTV]

So sad to lose a small child. Is this the story where the parents are suing the dentist, because he didn't prescribe the right dosage of medicine during the procedure? No amount of money is bringing the child, back to life.

I think the new kind of dentistry is very aggressive, and sincerely doubt if one needs all the work they say, needs to be done. I recently went to the dentist for a teeth cleaning, as I was not having any problems. They informed I would have to have a complete exam, before my teeth would be cleaned. HUH?

After the exam, I was informed I needed to have 8 teeth pulled and two bridges made. One to replace a perfectly good bridge. All for the cost of $3,000. They said I would get a break as they would do the repairs for $2,000I said I wanted to clean my teeth, after the exam, as they promised. They then told me, I needed to go to a peridontists, to have my teeeth cleaned. HUH???

Very small potato's compared to what happened to this small child.

I may be totally off base, but what were her parents thinking, to allow this to happen? Did they get another opinion, before subjecting this child to a procedure, that may not have been necessary?

I know it's always easier to look back and see what one should have done,
but zeeeshhhhhhhh!!!!!

So sad.

[gingersnap]

My 4 yr old granddaughter just had 2 baby molars (1 on each side) removed last month. Our son & wife got 2 opinions on this prior to acting on it. The little one complained about her tooth hurting and when her mom looked at it there was a black dot in the center of the tooth. The pediatric dentist did some testing and found that both molars were VERY infected. My son said it made him sick when he saw the X-rays! The dretist said the enamel on those teeth did not form properly which probably caused the problem. The dentist removed the teeth, put spacers in to keep the other teeth coming in straight and also capped the adjoining teeth...Not a simple or cheap visit! This child has also had chronic ear infections (2 sets of tubes), which the Dr is saying was probably caused from the teeth. Pretty scary for all of us but the poor little girl was in so much pain.

[buggyone]

I can understand how a 3 year old might die of a reaction to anesthetic.

I cannot understand why a dentist would say that the child would need 4 root canals at only 3. That borders on criminal.

I cannot understand the parents not seeking a second and third opinion and agreeing to the procedure. Very, very stupid people!

As for the lawsuit, have the hospital bill and funeral expenses covered and NOTHING MORE! Stupidity should not be rewarded.

Naturally, the dentist should face criminal charges for a bogus diagnosis.

[doccrocker]

This is a terrible tragedy, and it is not something that should have occurred. I would like to examine and evaluate the office and its procedures personally, but that cannot happen, so obviously the court system will have to bring information to light that the news article did/could not. Allegations are a legal mechanism- a shot across the bow as it were. Not a wise idea to judge from a news report.

By way of explanation for some of the concerns raised by this post:

Children can and do develop severe caries at very young ages, especially if they develop (as was mentioned earlier) bottle mouth syndrome. I have had to treat as young as 2 year olds for decay. It is especially prevalent where there is no fluoride in the drinking water. Acids in the milk or juice simply stay in place overnight eroding the teeth. Often, even when a parent is actually looking at the child's teeth the decay hollows out the inside without being visible until one day the shell of enamel just cracks like an egg. Children's "root canals" are usually called pulpotomies or pulpectomies because not all of the nerve is removed. Just the part in the crown of the tooth. This is in fact an in-office procedure and is very routine. We really want to keep the "baby" teeth until the permanent teeth come in because they hold space for the permanent teeth. Early removal of baby teeth winds up causing huge function problems due to crowding and frequently necessitating extensive corrections with extractions, braces (orthodontics) and sometimes even the need for surgeries to reposition the jaws.

Unfortunately, children (of all ages) do bring behavior problems to the office, so it is also commonplace for pediatric dentists to sedate them, sometimes with IV anesthetics, and sometimes with nitrous-oxide (laughing gas). Remember, no one really wants to go to the dentist, especially 3y/o who can't see the future, only the scary present. Better to get as much done as possible under the anesthesia. Would you really want to have open heart surgery for four clogged arteries and do two arteries today and next week go back under for the other two?

State laws vary, but nitrous can usually be used with a second person who monitors the patient while the work is being performed. True anesthesia (not just sedation) where the patient is unconscious definitely needs an anesthetist/anesthesiologist monitoring vitals. There are offices which are equipped with true surgical suites as one would find in a hospital but this is not commonplace. From the limited news report, I doubt that there was an allergic response to the anesthetic. I would be more inclined to think insufficient oxygen to the brain.

Sadly, people have a tendency to go with "If it doesn't hurt, there is not a problem and therefore, I can spend the money on a new TV/car/vacation/whatever , instead." While I agree that there are healthcare providers who are aggressive with treatment recommendations, ethical practitioners will offer a range of professionally acceptable choices, ranging from strictly maintenance wherein the minimum is done, to midrange which will help improve the overall condition, to high end which is intended to make the end result as ideal as possible. It is important for a dentist to explain all of the whats, whys, and hows , so the patient understands. However, there are people who only hear sounds but never listen to what's being said or simply choose to refuse to understand.

Thanks to poster(s)#8 mr & mrs bike for their insight on cause and effect and to 2BNTV for a phrase that should be equal to the golden rule , "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care".

Sorry if I rambled, but dentistry is extremely complex. I have no desire to condemn either side in this tragedy. Perhaps the parents allowed the situation to develop and perhaps not. Perhaps the dental office procedures were just not there. I don't know. But I would bet that the dentist is grieving as much as the parents, and not because of the lawsuit. Somebody died on her watch, and that will haunt her for the rest of her life.

[Parker]

Doccrocker, the voice of reason.

[dsned]

A dentist in Nashville told me my daughter had 10 cavities, I went ahead with drilling 5 of them, then went to another dentist who said she was fine. Thats when I learned about dentists.

[2BNTV]

Originally Posted by doccrocker

This is a terrible tragedy, and it is not something that should have occurred. I would like to examine and evaluate the office and its procedures personally, but that cannot happen, so obviously the court system will have to bring information to light that the news article did/could not. Allegations are a legal mechanism- a shot across the bow as it were. Not a wise idea to judge from a news report.

By way of explanation for some of the concerns raised by this post:

Children can and do develop severe caries at very young ages, especially if they develop (as was mentioned earlier) bottle mouth syndrome. I have had to treat as young as 2 year olds for decay. It is especially prevalent where there is no fluoride in the drinking water. Acids in the milk or juice simply stay in place overnight eroding the teeth. Often, even when a parent is actually looking at the child's teeth the decay hollows out the inside without being visible until one day the shell of enamel just cracks like an egg. Children's "root canals" are usually called pulpotomies or pulpectomies because not all of the nerve is removed. Just the part in the crown of the tooth. This is in fact an in-office procedure and is very routine. We really want to keep the "baby" teeth until the permanent teeth come in because they hold space for the permanent teeth. Early removal of baby teeth winds up causing huge function problems due to crowding and frequently necessitating extensive corrections with extractions, braces (orthodontics) and sometimes even the need for surgeries to reposition the jaws.

Unfortunately, children (of all ages) do bring behavior problems to the office, so it is also commonplace for pediatric dentists to sedate them, sometimes with IV anesthetics, and sometimes with nitrous-oxide (laughing gas). Remember, no one really wants to go to the dentist, especially 3y/o who can't see the future, only the scary present. Better to get as much done as possible under the anesthesia. Would you really want to have open heart surgery for four clogged arteries and do two arteries today and next week go back under for the other two?

State laws vary, but nitrous can usually be used with a second person who monitors the patient while the work is being performed. True anesthesia (not just sedation) where the patient is unconscious definitely needs an anesthetist/anesthesiologist monitoring vitals. There are offices which are equipped with true surgical suites as one would find in a hospital but this is not commonplace. From the limited news report, I doubt that there was an allergic response to the anesthetic. I would be more inclined to think insufficient oxygen to the brain.

Sadly, people have a tendency to go with "If it doesn't hurt, there is not a problem and therefore, I can spend the money on a new TV/car/vacation/whatever , instead." While I agree that there are healthcare providers who are aggressive with treatment recommendations, ethical practitioners will offer a range of professionally acceptable choices, ranging from strictly maintenance wherein the minimum is done, to midrange which will help improve the overall condition, to high end which is intended to make the end result as ideal as possible. It is important for a dentist to explain all of the whats, whys, and hows , so the patient understands. However, there are people who only hear sounds but never listen to what's being said or simply choose to refuse to understand.

Thanks to poster(s)#8 mr & mrs bike for their insight on cause and effect and to 2BNTV for a phrase that should be equal to the golden rule , "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care".

Sorry if I rambled, but dentistry is extremely complex. I have no desire to condemn either side in this tragedy. Perhaps the parents allowed the situation to develop and perhaps not. Perhaps the dental office procedures were just not there. I don't know. But I would bet that the dentist is grieving as much as the parents, and not because of the lawsuit. Somebody died on her watch, and that will haunt her for the rest of her life.

Good insight from a dentists who is the voice orf reason. We will have to wait to hear all of the factors, that contributed to this terrible tragedy. I guess it's like the old story, of people getting divorced. Their is his side, her side and the truth.

You should post more often Doc..... er......... Steve.