5yo with cavities, dentist says iv sedation, can't afford it!

[Abarat]

Hey all, new to this board.  We found in the past few months that 5yo DS has 4 cavities.  They started with one cavity on each side on a molar and the molars touch the next one in line so cavities have started there too.  So 2 have become 4.

We tried to get them filled a month or two after finding this out...we were called in for a cancellation appointment in the late afternoon and he was tired and wouldn't let him put the "raincoat" in his mouth so we trashed that visit.

Our second visit was last week.  It was a morning visit, after a long wait in the waiting room.  Also, we'd had 2 different houseguests in 2 weeks so he was little off kilter from the disruptions at home.  The doc tried to hold his mouth open with a tool and DS kept pushing it out with his tongue.

So, now the doc won't do any more regular visits to get these cavities and says it's IV sedation or nothing.  And he's the dentist in town everyone refers to.

Our problem isn't necessarilly the sedation (though it makes me nervous) but instead of a $200 problem it's now a $1200 problem and we can't afford that!

I'm at a loss as to what to do.  I feel like a horrible mother for all this mess I feel I've gotten my son into and the fact that I can't just pull the money out of my pocket to get it fixed.

They talked about some medical credit card thing we could try and get so we could pay it off over time, but we'd be paying on it for a long time!

I sure could use some advice here.

[lilyka]

Would the dentist be willing to take the time to give him a practice run (a different dentist).  show him the equipment, let him touch it and feel it, walk him through what will happen step by step.  Can you show him a video of what is going to happen?  Does your dentist have the monitors.  cold your son watch a video while he is having work done?

How long can yo wait?  3 or 4 months might make a huge difference.  When you do make the appointment make an effort to make sure he is ready for it.  Early to bed, good breakfast, no company or changes in the preceeding week.  

good luck.

[ssh]

The in office oral sedation works well and it's alot cheaper. Was he using nitrous or anything when he tried before?

[Abarat]

He was using nitrous, and only does that or IV sedation.

It really struck me later today that the doc really didn't go over all the instruments and procedure with him beforehand and DS is one that needs to know what's going on, straight up, no bs.  They don't have monitors to see what's going on and do their best to get him laid down and watching the tv on the ceiling to keep him distracted.

I think what I'll do is get a cleaning for myself at a family dentist (the one I'm going to use for him for our next attempt) in town, let DS go to observe it all and do some role play with him and let him watch some videos and such to help him out.

I'm also going to keep it low key and as restful as I can the week before.  It shouldn't have been so bad this past time but we had a surprise houseguest and I have trouble saying no.  I hoped he'd be alright but hindsight is always 20/20.

It just really bothers me that the dentist we'd been seeing won't give him one more shot in a few months time, and that it's so darned expensive.  $1000 for the anesthesia seems really outrageous to me.