David's Teeth
I haven't written about it on here, but at the end of January, David and I had our 6 month dentist visit...and got a whopper of a surprise. For the first time, they did bitewing X-rays on David. You see, he has a very small mouth (believe it or not, he got that from his momma), and the hygienist could never get the X-rays in his mouth before. But this time, she held them in. Why?
Because apparently David had 7 cavities - SEVEN!!!
Now, let me tell you, he brushes his teeth twice a day and we have taken him to the dentist, faithfully, every six months since he was three. Last summer at our visit, there was no talk of cavities at all. All this just came up in January.
So what happened?
Who knows?
Juice? Bad brushing? Genetics? One or all of the above happened. Either way, we were looking at some major dental work.
Our dentist, Dr. T, didn't feel comfortable doing that much work on little teeth, so he referred us to Dr. K, a pediatric dentist in our city.
Oh my, what is it with doctors in my city? First, we had to wait 5 weeks for an appointment. Then, after being told by Dr. T and by Dr. K's office staff that they would be filling David's cavities on that visit, we show up and are told that we must be stupid to think they would fill all his cavities then (OK, the nurse didn't use the word "stupid" but she might as well have - she sure made us feel that way). We were talked to condescendingly as if we were redneck, hillbilly parents who, obviously, had poor dental hygiene and just let our child's teeth rot out.
To top it off, the nurse came out and informed us that David had a tooth that was abscessed and needed to be pulled - a molar that would not be replaced until the adult tooth grows in several years from now. Needless to say, we were not happy and left that doctor's office ready to look for a different one.
After our horrible visit with Dr. K, we went back to Dr. T and asked for another referral to somewhere different. We got one...in the next town over (boy, other towns are looking much better than mine for doctors right now). Unfortunately, our appointment with new doc, Dr. S, wasn't until April 12, another 5 week wait.
On to the Good Thing #2 - Dr. S had a cancellation and we got in a month early!
AND...
We loved him and his office staff. They were willing to work with us and do the treatment that we preferred, which is to sedate David and get all the dental work done at once. They did find 2 more cavities at that visit. Out of the 16 baby teeth David has (he has lost 4), 9 of them have cavities. NINE!!! From someone who only has one cavity - That's just crazy!
Not so Good Thing, David has one tooth that started hurting him really bad Friday night - always happens on a weekend, doesn't it? And, our appointment to get everything fixed isn't until April 24.
But Good Thing - Dr. S was able to work him in today to fix that one tooth so it's no longer hurting him.
We still have to wait a month to finish all the dental work, but it is a much easier wait when I trust the doctor and know that the office staff will treat me with respect.
How about you? Have you ever been treated like a horrible parent by a doctor's office?
Posts
haven't been treated as a horrible parent yet, but, do have a sortof-similar story. When we first moved to Nashville, we did not find a dentist right away. It was longer than it should have been, and when we finally picked one and went he said I had 9 cavities. Having NEVER had one before I questioned this. We went to a different dentist who we knew and trust and he said it was more like 2 and several spots they just needed to watch. that made me feel much better. his practice moved nearly twice as far away but we still go to him, because it is worth the trip! so crazy to think in that short of time David's teeth could have gotten that many cavities! glad you finally found a dentist, and a dr for that matter, that you are comfortable going to!
ReplyDelete-Robin