When Kevin (diagnosed with posterior fossa ependymoma) turned 2, I asked our oncologists if they thought he should see a dentist, that I was worried about his teeth. They tried to take a peek at his teeth, but Kevin was like Fort Knox. They both said that he shouldn’t have any problems because of his illness and that we could bring him to our regular dentist when he turned 3. When Kevin was a little over 2 ½, I suspected that he had a few cavities. I brought him to a local pediatric dentist. After a horrible exam of three people holding him down, the dentist said he had four cavities. He wanted to fill them all without putting Kevin under anesthesia.

After talking to our pediatrician, she said, “Why don’t you go to a Children’s Hospital dentist?” So we did, and the exam was much better. Anyway, they thought he had more than four cavities and that two of his teeth would have to be removed. They wouldn’t know for sure until they did an x-ray during surgery. He was put under for his surgery and they removed two teeth and filled five cavities. We were told that the cavities were probably due to radiation. He also had a right paralyzed vocal cord and right facial paralysis. He always chewed his food on the left side of his mouth. But the cavities were on both sides. And he hated to have his teeth brushed! After his cavities were filled, the Children’s dentist wanted to see him every 3 months for a cleaning and checkup.

My daughter had problems with thick yellow saliva during the entire time she was treated. It coated her teeth and formed a lot of plaque. I brought her to an excellent pediatric dentist every 3 months to have the plaque removed. She took antibiotics half an hour before treatment and then again 6 hours afterward. He also put sealants on all of her molars and, even though there were many weeks when her teeth could not be brushed, she never got a cavity.