Help me decide--and please calm my nerves!

[lava mama]

DS is 21 mo. He's had some tooth decay problems and I know it's not getting any better. The first time I notice his decay, there was a discolored spot on one tooth. Now, that decay has marbled down the tooth and has even caused a "ridge" in his tooth. He also has another decay spot on the underside of one of his front teeth. His tooth is starting to look chipped because of this. I don't know how long that decay has been there, but it has to have appeared within the last 2 months or so.

I've been to 3 different dentists. Two of the dentists (who are in my area and accept our insurance) will only treat him with the pedi-wrap. The other dentist is about 45 minutes away, doesn't accept our insurance, and will only work on DS if he is under GA.

I'm freaking out about the possibility of DS going under for such a minor thing. I would totally go for it if he had a disaster mouth, but he doesn't at this point. I'm sure if we wait long enough that he will.

But, I'm also freaking out about him being on the papoose board. This kid does not tolerate being restrained in the slightest, let alone being restrained while strangers are poking around in his mouth and using tools that make funny noises.

So, WWYD? Pappose? Or wait it out and then go under GA (which we would pay out of pocket--on a student's budget). Is that papoose board THAT horrible? Is there a way I can say, "Okay buddy, you have 10 minutes and after that I'm taking him out to calm him down." Should I just have them fill one tooth per visit or should we take care of it in one fell swoop?

Or should we just wait and see if it stays the same or gets worse?

Please help me and share your knowledge and experience!

[kaPOW!]

Originally Posted by lava mama

DS is 21 mo. He's had some tooth decay problems and I know it's not getting any better. The first time I notice his decay, there was a discolored spot on one tooth. Now, that decay has marbled down the tooth and has even caused a "ridge" in his tooth. He also has another decay spot on the underside of one of his front teeth. His tooth is starting to look chipped because of this. I don't know how long that decay has been there, but it has to have appeared within the last 2 months or so.

I've been to 3 different dentists. Two of the dentists (who are in my area and accept our insurance) will only treat him with the pedi-wrap. The other dentist is about 45 minutes away, doesn't accept our insurance, and will only work on DS if he is under GA.

I'm freaking out about the possibility of DS going under for such a minor thing. I would totally go for it if he had a disaster mouth, but he doesn't at this point. I'm sure if we wait long enough that he will.

But, I'm also freaking out about him being on the papoose board. This kid does not tolerate being restrained in the slightest, let alone being restrained while strangers are poking around in his mouth and using tools that make funny noises.

So, WWYD? Pappose? Or wait it out and then go under GA (which we would pay out of pocket--on a student's budget). Is that papoose board THAT horrible? Is there a way I can say, "Okay buddy, you have 10 minutes and after that I'm taking him out to calm him down." Should I just have them fill one tooth per visit or should we take care of it in one fell swoop?

Or should we just wait and see if it stays the same or gets worse?

Please help me and share your knowledge and experience!

Does he have health insurance? GA would be covered under the health, not the dental, insurance. It's usually required to be covered for children under 3, but you'll have to check with your ins. company.

[lava mama]

Yes, he has Medicaid, and the hospital visit would be covered, but none of the dentist's fees would--about $800.00 out of pocket.

[BellinghamCrunchie]

Faced with a very similar dilemma, we opted to go as long as we could before having the cavity filled under G.A. Meanwhile, we tried everything we could to slow the decay and even possibly heal it (see other threads about curing cavities with nutrition).

We were able to delay about 9 mths. She is having G.A. on Friday to fix what are now 2-3 cavities, and a few stains. We opted not to do the conscious sedation with papoose board because I could not stand the idea of her being restrained and terrified for an hour or so, plus ruining any chance of her having a good relationship with the dentist in the future (although he said she wouldn't remember any of it I don't believe him).

It sounds to me like the costs out of pocket should be about the same whether you use GA or papoose board, if the GA is covered? Unless you have some kind of weird dental insurance that only covers in the dentists office and not in the hospital. Also our dentist said medicaid would cover the dental work whatever our insurance did not cover - maybe you should look to see if there are programs in your state that cover low income dental for kids - I'd be surprised if there isn't something.

[lava mama]

BellinghamCrunchie~ Actually, out out-of-pocket if we go with the papoose board would be $0.00. If we go the GA route, it would be at least $750.00, but that's just the dentist's costs. I'm pretty sure the hospital and anesthesia would be covered so that's nice. But, we're poor, poor students and $750.00 is really stretching it for us if we can even pay it at all.

Argh! I hate this decision making stuff! Does anyone else have any experiences or opinions? I would love as many as you're willing to share.