BENGALURU: In an unusual case, four-year-old Priya (name changed) had to undergo full mouth rehabilitation — 16 of her primary teeth needed root canal procedure, and four others needed fillings.
For a few weeks, Priya had been complaining of terrible pain while eating and chewing, and her face had swollen up. She had even had a high fever. Her parents took her to a dentist who prescribed some medicines and said there was nothing to worry since they were milk teeth and would fall off.
However, Priya’s face grew more swollen, and her parents took her to a private hospital on Tuesday.
When the dentist examined Priya, she was shocked to see that all 20 primary teeth were infected by cavities, and the only option was a mouth rehabilitation procedure. “When we videographed her, we saw that 16 of her teeth needed to undergo root canal treatment, while the other four needed fillings. If treatment was ignored, the child would start getting permanent teeth that would not be properly functional. The permanent teeth would also start growing in a crooked way,” said Dr Padmavathi, Pediatric Dentist, Rainbow Children’s Hospital.
Treating so many teeth would take a long time, and general anaesthesia was necessary. On Thursday, Priya underwent a six-hour procedure. “Priya’s mouth rehabilitation was successful, root canal and filling procedure were performed and caps were attached to all the teeth, though it is not advisable for children of such a young age to undergo mouth rehabilitation,” said Dr Padmavathi.
“Children don’t understand what to eat or what not to. Many children like eating only sweets or candies, this should be avoided, and so should junk food, which gets stuck in the teeth. This proves to be really bad. Even when children are around a year old, they should not be given a milk bottle through the night. The milk remains in the mouth when they fall asleep, and this also affects the teeth,” added Dr Padmavathi.
Due to lack of awareness among children and parents, she has started seeing up to 15 cases of mouth rehabilitation, and 10 cases of cavities per day. “Children should brush their teeth twice a day and avoid sweets. When the baby starts teething, parents should get a check-up done every six months,” she added.