Pediatric Dentists are Weaners part 3

I'll set the scene: it was a beautiful spring day. I was eight months pregnant with my third child, and it was time for Kathleen to have her teeth cleaned and for Alexander to have his first dental checkup. My husband and I had been hyper vigilant about their teeth for years, so I had no worries as I took them into the brightly decorated pediatric dentist's office. No fear clouded my appreciation of the adorable mural painted on the waiting room wall or caused my heart to leap when my children's names were called. Sure, the circle the dentist had been "watching" on Kathleen's tooth now had a tan center, but I figured that one filling wasn't the end of the world. Boy, was I wrong.

Both kids had x-rays done when we walked in the back. Then, Kathleen had her "cleaning". The assistant (I thought she was a hygienist, but she wasn't) basically brushed and flossed Kathleen's teeth (for which I was charged $98). There was no spinning, cleaning thingy like my dentist used on me. Then it was the dentist's turn. She quickly scanned my daughter's teeth and started calling out coded information to her assistant, who made notations on Kathleen's chart. I know that I heard the word "preventative" at least twice. When she was finished, she announced that Kathleen needed EIGHT crowns. Remember, she already has seven; all put in by this dentist.

Before I could register what she had said, it was Alexander's turn on the table. He was too young for a cleaning (since it wasn't a true procedure, though, I'm not sure why that was), so the dentist only looked at his teeth. My sweet two year old lay perfectly still and let her poke and prod his little mouth. She started spouting out codes again (including the word "preventative"). Then, that hideous woman informed me that my son needed SEVEN crowns on his teeth.

I was so shocked, I was speechless. I managed to ask why this kept happening and point out all of the steps we had been taking to avoid this. She smoothly started talking about weak enamel, finding the mysterious cause of it, a possible genetic connection, etc. Then she laid an even bigger whammy on me; she wanted to do all of the work under general anesthesia at the hospital (local surgery center instead of Childrens this time). Kathleen was five years old! I have never heard of school-aged children being put to sleep for dental work. Alexander was two and a half, so it made a little more sense at his age. I knew the minute the words were out of the dentist's mouth, though, that there was no way we were going to do the hospital thing again. There are plenty of good, serious reasons to put your children to sleep, but this was not one of them. I still regret making the decision the first time, and I wasn't going to repeat that mistake. I asked about fillings (the cavities were on the sides of the teeth, so no fillings) and sealants to prevent this from happening in the first place(not an option for some reason).

As I paid $200 for my kids' checkups, the secretary plopped a printout in front of me of the cost for the combined FIFTEEN crowns the dentist wanted. It was a whopping $8,000! Please believe that if my children ever needed medical attention or treatments, cost would not be a consideration. The fact that I was feeling a growing dread at the legitimacy of this dentist, the amount was ridiculous. I told the woman that I'd have to let them know what we were going to do, and walked out to the car (actually, I walked out to the minivan we had just purchased days before for only $5,000 more than the dental work).

I buckled the kids in, sat in the driver's seat, and wept. I could not understand what had gone wrong. I called my husband at work, and could barely talk because I was crying so hard. After I'd calmed down enough to drive, I went to my mother's house. There, I broke down again. Coincidentally, she was about to leave for her own dentist visit at the very dentist I used for myself. She calmed me down by saying that she'd bring the kids up with him.

While she was gone, I began to really process the information. Hadn't the dentist claimed that Kathleen's problems were from breastfeeding at night? Well, my sweet baby was weaned between her diagnosis and her dental work. How could breastfeeding at night past a year have been the problem if we were facing the exact same thing now? Our old house had well water with no fluoride, which was also blamed for the earlier problems. Our new house had city water and Kathleen used a fluoride rinse at night. We had taught Alexander to spit at his young age so that we could use fluorinated toothpaste on him.

Mom came home and told me that the family dentist would see the kids for a free second opinion the next morning. I asked my husband to accompany us because I didn't want to face the bad news alone again. We were both a bundle of nerves as the dentist examined Kathleen's teeth. Guess what he said? She needed ONE crown, on the tooth with the circle. He also pointed out that it could have been FILLED a while ago before it became a cavity, even though it was on the side of her tooth. She had two other small cavities that were on her chewing surfaces of molars (the other dentist specifically said that they weren't on the chewing surfaces) that could be filled easily. Alexander's exam was even more shocking; the dentist said that he couldn't find any tooth in his mouth that needed to be crowned by any stretch of the imagination. He had three tiny cavities that could easily be filled.

There you have it. No mysterious cause, no genetic problems. Kathleen eventually went in for a real cleaning (it turns out that pediatric dentists don't use accredited hygienists, but only assistants). She had one crown done in the office with local anesthetic and some laughing gas. She had her fillings done in like five minutes. Alexander had his cavities filled all in one visit; they were so tiny that the dentist didn't even need the drill (or Novocaine). We had sealants put on his other molars. The dentist was shocked by the other's diagnosis. He said that she was, "Just trying to pay her rent." By crowning the teeth, she was basically getting rid of them to avoid later cavities. She wanted us to risk our children's lives and pay her $8,000 for NOTHING. What was worse, we had already let her butcher Kathleen's baby teeth, and we now had no way of knowing what actually needed to be done at the time.

In between the time Kathleen's teeth were ruined and the next horrible visit, we recommended the dentist for my nephew. Guess who ended up knocked out in a hospital getting crowns? When I started talking to other moms about this particular dentist, guess how many had been told that their children needed crowns?

A year after we started using our family dentist for the kids, I was in the surgery center's waiting room while my husband had a procedure done. I saw a family carry a drugged up toddler out to their car, but didn't connect the dots until I saw that evil dentist come out in her scrubs. She went over to a young couple a few chairs down from me. Do you know what she told them? That their daughter had cavities on the sides of her teeth, weak enamel, a possible genetic connection, etc. If their child's work hadn't already been done, I would have said something to them. I still wonder if I should have spoken up anyway. They may be facing the same thing in a year or two.