Pediatric Dental Work

Baby teeth are important. For one, without them to space out big teeth as they come in, the big teeth can come up in the wrong place or be crooked. Untreated cavities can become worse or infected. Sedation for small children is suggested when the work might be too much for a little kid. Friend's son was sedated for a lot of dental work when he was 5.

You might want to read the dentist's responses here: http://cyberdentist.blogspot.com/2006/09/they-are-just-ba...

Sometimes it is a brushing issue and sometimes it's enamel and sometimes it's both. My stepdaughter has a huge sweet tooth and is a lazy brusher and we shelled out nearly $3K last year for fillings and read her the riot act for not following instructions. My stepson hasn't had a cavity in his life. If you know the kid trends toward problems, you need to stay on top of them. My DD has my poor baby enamel but hasn't had a problem since the first (small, unsedated) filling when she was 10 months old. We've been seen a LOT but we've stayed on top of it.

And the long and short is if you think you're getting scammed, then get a second opinion but I would not just ignore them.

Is it necessary, well I guess that depends on whether you think your child will be picked on for bringing baby food to school with him.

My son has some of the same thing done except all teeth were capped. The teeth will fall apart and be pulled, once they are pulled they having nothing to chew with until the adult teeth come in. To me this was a no brainer.

I am always amazed by the answers to these questions. There are genetic anomalies that cause the enamel to not form properly in baby teeth. I have been told some of these kids have the same issue with their adult teeth, fortunately both my boys ended up with healthy adult teeth.

People this is not a brushing or diet issue! Both of my son's teeth came in and the first thing out of my mouth, what the hell is that and rushed them to the dentist. My oldest had a circle on his very front tooth that had no enamel what so ever, it just wasn't there! It is genetic!

wow why does that kid have so many cavities. Get a second oppinion. But definitely use a pediatric dentist for the work.

Do sedation.

Why in the world do you want to make your child have to do dental work and be awake through it when they could go to sleep and wake up feeling wonderful with no side effects.

They will have those memories of the shots, the drilling, the smell of decay as it is ground away, the feeling of the drill in their mouth, the stretching of their lips, the whole thing. Good grief, they don't need those memories.

I would say at age 5 to just have them pulled. He is going to loose them within a year, two at most. Well, I guess it depends on how early they came in. If he got his teeth early then he'll get his adult teeth early too. If he got his teeth later then he may keep these for the next year. Most kids at age 5 have already started losing their baby teeth.

I have had both grand kids put to sleep through out patient surgery for all dental work. They go to sleep, he does ALL the work in a few minutes, they come out, wake up, ready to go play and wanting to go eat. They are happy, feeling wonderful, no memories, it is so very simple.

My friend who has a daughter the same age as my granddaughter took her to see our dentist. When we got there they did not take her insurance. She decided to take her to their family dentist. Now, he is a great dentist. He does a lot of state insurance kids and is a family man who is a really nice person. There should be no reason for a person to not use him.

She took her daughter to him, he did the shots, did the work, it fell out, he re-did it, it fell out again. He just didn't really have that much experience with baby teeth. He finally just pulled it. She has a fine tooth in the hole now. She hates going to the dentist and fights like a crazed person when they have appointments. My grand kids all want to go see Dr. Lee all the time when we drive by his office.

I highly recommend doing the sedation and I would ask the dentist to pull the worst teeth at this point. Fill the rest. No root canals, no caps, no expensive costs. They are going in the trash can within months.

I would get a second opinion since it is a lot of money. But for me, the greater concern is that his teeth are this bad at only 5. My son has deep crevices in his teeth so he is more prone to cavities but at 4, he has had zero. How did it get so bad? Once this is resolved, I would really take a hard look at what is going on because this will only continue.

Poor kiddo :( I would DEFINITLY get a second opinion from a pedi dentist. Without knowing exactly whats going on with your sons dental health (or his age), this seems like a lot for your child. Please take him to another pedi dentist to see what else can be done (if anything)... it may benefit your son (and your wallet!) Best wishes!

Baby teeth ARE important. I would get a second opinion though. That's A LOT of work .

http://www.aapd.org/publications/brochures/peddentist.asp

http://www.saveyoursmile.com/parents/babyteeth.html

I would NOT have him sedated without a second opinion. This sounds like too much work on such a young child not to have confirmation by someone
else.

I would get a second opinion.

Holy cow! I don't even pay that much for my dental stuff!

Second and even third opinion!!!

What's your son's diet like? 3 crowns possibly and 5 cavities? Either she's stretching the truth or he's got some bad teeth due to dietary issues. If they are on baby teeth, I'd forget it and figure out what he's getting these cavities, so this doesn't happen to his adult teeth.

You might try a second opinion with a family dentist rather than a pediatric one...they treat children as well as adults, only I have found our family dentist to be much less expensive. Around $125 to 150 a cavity filled with sedation (usually liquid Valium, pheagrn, and laughing gas). Compared to about $300 per at a pediatric dentist...

I always go with a pediatric specialist...but in the case of dentists our family dentist has been awesome!

We just had our first dentist appointment for my 4 year old and she had 1 cavity. I still brush her teeth but apparently she has very deep crevices and is more susceptible for food getting stuck. I'm assuming you are talking about his molars? Baby molars are important because apparently they will not give way to their adult molars until anywhere from age 8-12 (on average). The reason why I know this is because we had my LOs molars sealed to help prevent more cavities. Initially I thought she would lose her molars soon and I wanted to seal her adult teeth rather than her babies. Obviously 4-6 more years was worth the preventative cost.

So with exam, cleaning, 8 sealants and 1 fixed cavity the total was $500. Also, we opted out of the sedative and went with the laughing gas since my LO was not acting up and the cavity only required some numbing agent rather than a shot. When asked about the sedative vs the laughing gas, the PD said that my LO would have to be monitored for the day for possible side effects whereas there isn't a side affect with the gas other than possible nausea. However, my LO didn't have to have teeth pulled...

The cost for the sedative was an additional $175 (opted out). Our dentist gave us 20% discount for paying without insurance and an additional $100 off for the sealants. The initial cost was $800+. I think in general fixing bad teeth is going to cost more than vigorous prevention: brushing (multiple times a day), flossing, sealants, and regular checkups. Also, oral health is extremely important at any age as it can lead to other health issues.

Why pay for something they going to lose later! Wait for there permantent teeth. And find another dentist.