A few weeks ago, I took my 4 year old to the dentist for the first time. The day before, I just happened to take a peek in his mouth and saw a gray spot on one of his teeth. I pretty much knew what that was, a cavity. Unfortunately, his first dental trip didn't go very well.
He refused to sit in the chair and let the dentist get a close look. He did open up while standing, so the dentist could view the tooth. He thought it was a cavity too.
My dental hygienist suggested I take my son to a pediatric dentist, since they deal with kids every day and have a kid friendly office.
That was a big mistake. For a pediatric dentist, he was not very good. He didn't connect with my son at all. The dentist came out all hyper and talking a little loud to my son wondering what his name is and how old he is. My son just ran over to me and didn't say anything. I think he was scared. Then we went into the room. My son went to look at a bunch of sticker rolls they had on the wall and was trying to check a few other things out. The dentist had this weird tone of voice when telling him to stay away from things. The dentist had me sit my son on my lap facing me and lay him down between me and the dentist, so he could look in his mouth. I think my son wanted to sit in the dental chair, but the dentist didn't even try to have him sit in it. Then when the dentist was looking in my son's mouth, he was singing this weird song.
The only positive thing the dentist did was show my son the mirror he was going to use to look in his mouth. When he was done, the dentist said my son had eight cavities and my son would have to be hospitalized and knocked out in order for him to take care of all the cavities at once. I've never heard of hospitalizing a child for cavities, but apparently that's what a lot of money hungry dentists do. I asked him if we couldn't just fix the cavities a little at a time and he said what, knock him out multiple times?
This dentist, who's on Genessee St. in Utica, NY was going to charge $2000 for fixing the cavities. On top of that would be the hospital bills, so it would probably cost about $5000 to get my son's cavities taken care of with this dentist. Pretty crazy.
I have NY's Child Health Plus for my son which includes a dental plan for certain dentists. This dentist isn't in the plan. I was just stunned, but fortunately something came over me and I said I was getting a second opinion and we left. If my son ends up needing to be hospitalized to get his cavities taken care, that dentist won't be doing it. I didn't like him, he didn't connect with my son and I'm pretty sure he didn't have my son's best interests in mind and was just out to make money.
I immediately went to my dentist and scheduled an appointment for my son. Hopefully he will be able to get my son to cooperate, although I don't really hold much hope in that. If that doesn't work I'm not sure what I will do.
In the mean time, I'm reading a book called Cure Tooth Decay. Apparently, it is possible to remineralize teeth and heal cavities naturally. Apparently, tooth decay can be stopped and small cavities may even go away. According to this book, cavities are the result of a nutritional imbalance of Vitamin A, K, D, calcium and phosphorus. Remineralizing teeth requires a diet of no grains or sugar, with raw dairy products, vegetables, limited amounts of fruit, eggs and grass fed meats. There are a lot of testimonials on the internet from people who have had success with healing tooth decay with diet changes. I'm doing the best I can with changing my son's diet, but it's difficult to get a picky 4 year old to cooperate. He's doing great not having juice. I've also stopped giving him gummy vitamins. The cavities are all between his teeth. My dental hygienist said cavities between the teeth are usually caused by sticky things, such as gummies and lollipops. I'm guessing the gummy vitamins are a big cause of the cavities, so beware of gummy vitamins. The same thing happened with my older son, only he was 6 and cooperated, so that my dentist could fill the cavities. The worse thing he is eating is cheerios and crackers, so that's not too bad. I'm really hoping the changes that we are making will help at least slow down the tooth decay until my son is a little older and more cooperative.
It's tough having restrictive dental insurance. My dentist doesn't even take it. I was laid off last year and lost my dental insurance, life insurance, etc.
I tried signing up for life insurance with a local company, but they kept requesting more info and were concerned with my blood sugar issues. It also required someone to come to my home and give me a physical. I wasn't too keen on that aspect. In the end, they cancelled my application saying I didn't respond to their request for more info, which I did.
TLI Family Insurance is a site that might be worth looking into if I decide to try to get life insurance again. You can click here more info, if you are interested in life insurance.
Allstate might also be an option. I have my car and homeowners insurance with them, and they also offer life insurance.
Comments