Post by jamib on Jan 19, 2005 2:07:02 GMT -4
My 4.5 year old dd has cavities in seven teeth (I think--I'm not sure I'm getting all the info) that need fillings. We have already had three visits to have work done.
At the first visit they did a pulpotomy and a ss crown.
At the second visit they discovered her upper front tooth (which had a large cavity on the back) had an infection and they pulled it.
At the third visit they attempted to do a pulpotomy, but my daughter was not numb enough--the dentist claimed she had to be, but she has always been calm at her visits and this time she was screaming whenever he put anything sharp in her tooth. Water was fine, anything else sent her through the roof. They had to stop and put in temporary fillings. Afterwards, she told me it felt like a shark was biting her.
So now we are discussing either having the rest of the work done under sedation by a different dentist (our dentist doesn't do any sedation other than nitrous in his office). Or go to the hospital and have it all done at once under general anesthesia by our pediatric dentist. I'm very nervous about both, but I think I'm leaning more towards general anesthesia just to get it all completed at once.
However, today when I was talking to my dentist about it, he said since she'll be under general anesthesia he would prefer to be more "aggressive" and put stainless steel crowns on six of her molars. That would be seven ss crowns in all. (He had originally said he would need to do three). I absolutely don't want that. I've told him that I only want crowns on the ones that really need it, but the others I want metal fillings.
Please tell me if there are any other options I can ask him about. I really don't want her mouth filled with metal. Would you agree with his "aggressive" view, or would metal fillings be sufficient in cavities that are not as big.
Also, would you recommend sedation over general anesthesia?
I just want to mention that this is an HMO type of dental clinic and so I'm not especially confident that I'm getting all the possible options I would get with a private practice dentist.
At the first visit they did a pulpotomy and a ss crown.
At the second visit they discovered her upper front tooth (which had a large cavity on the back) had an infection and they pulled it.
At the third visit they attempted to do a pulpotomy, but my daughter was not numb enough--the dentist claimed she had to be, but she has always been calm at her visits and this time she was screaming whenever he put anything sharp in her tooth. Water was fine, anything else sent her through the roof. They had to stop and put in temporary fillings. Afterwards, she told me it felt like a shark was biting her.
So now we are discussing either having the rest of the work done under sedation by a different dentist (our dentist doesn't do any sedation other than nitrous in his office). Or go to the hospital and have it all done at once under general anesthesia by our pediatric dentist. I'm very nervous about both, but I think I'm leaning more towards general anesthesia just to get it all completed at once.
However, today when I was talking to my dentist about it, he said since she'll be under general anesthesia he would prefer to be more "aggressive" and put stainless steel crowns on six of her molars. That would be seven ss crowns in all. (He had originally said he would need to do three). I absolutely don't want that. I've told him that I only want crowns on the ones that really need it, but the others I want metal fillings.
Please tell me if there are any other options I can ask him about. I really don't want her mouth filled with metal. Would you agree with his "aggressive" view, or would metal fillings be sufficient in cavities that are not as big.
Also, would you recommend sedation over general anesthesia?
I just want to mention that this is an HMO type of dental clinic and so I'm not especially confident that I'm getting all the possible options I would get with a private practice dentist.