My 4 year old got 7 silver caps and 3 white caps

[ann]

My 4 year old daughter feel and bumped her front tooth with caused it to become very loose. We took her to the dentist and he said that it had to be pulled along with another back tooth. He also said that her front teeth needed to be capped and he would be placing white caps on these. He made me feel like this needed to be done right away and schedule her for the following week. I also said that one of her back teeth needed a silver cap.
And a couple other just needed to be filled. I did not take her in that Friday, but they kept calling to schedule the next week, which I still did not know what to do, and then they called again which made me fill pressured to go through with it. To my surprise, when they were down, they ended up capping 7 silver caps and the 3 white front ones. I've been so upset about what the Dentist did as this was not what he said he would be doing. Her bottom left side did not show any cavities yet he capped both of them. He also capped the top right side and both right and left side, making her whole inside of her month silver. Should he not have consulted with her before he did all this extra work. I don't think they needed to be capped and should of just been filled. I feel this was done for money and not for the best interest of the patient or paying parent. The orginal estimate of 5,560 plus 1,200 for the surgery room. The estimate that was given did not include all these extra caps. I'm so upset but i did not want my daughter to see and hear me say anything about it. She looks really bad and it changed her whole mouth. Now these will be on until she's 10. I'm concened if these caps will last that long. Her teeth were not that bad to have all this work done. I regret trusting the dentest and not getting a second opinion.
If I take her xrays to another dentist, can they still tell me from the xrays if all these extra caps were nessary?

[Daniel Ravel DDS, FAAPD]

Dear Ann,

A dentist has a very good idea about the treatment that is needed from looking at bite wing x-rays and occlusal x rays. These radiographs show how deep the dental caries are, as well as where they are located.

If original x-rays are taken before the day of dental treatment, it should easy to predict how extensive the treatment is going to be - ahead of time.

[ann]

Thank you for responding. Monday was her first day back at school and she's had to deal with the other kids making fun of the way her teeth look. I have called the dentist and expressed that we would have like to been informed of the other options that could of been taken instead of the silver capping. what we were most upset about is that more work was done that what was estimated. Of course they have us sign something that says the dentist may not be able to leave the surgery room so we had to sign something that allows him to use his own judgement. I still feel like he did not even try to do regular fills and just capped the majority of her teeth. I've have meet other parents who had similar experiences witht he same dentist and they have referred me to another one in a close by town. I'm not going back to this dentist and blame myself for not asking to see photos of his work, not asking to speak to other parents for reference. For now we are dealing with her self esteem and her her learning to deal with what other kids are saying to her. Her teacher called me today to let me know that she has been very with drawn and crys in the corner all day. She has not played with other kids for the last 3 days. But her teacher said she will be making a effort to visit with the other kids and their parents about the kids laughing at her. i had thought her first days back at school had gone fine because my daughter kept going on about how all the kids loved her new teeth. Sadly which is opposite of what's been happening. I guess this was her way of dealing with it. Many thanks to dentist like you who take the time to respond to parents like us. unfortunately this is not the kind of dentist we choose.

Daniel said:

Dear Ann,

A dentist has a very good idea about the treatment that is needed from looking at bite wing x-rays and occlusal x rays. These radiographs show how deep the dental caries are, as well as where they are located.

If original x-rays are taken before the day of dental treatment, it should easy to predict how extensive the treatment is going to be - ahead of time.