Pediatric dentists: Why are ours so ridiculous?

amother

Honey

Thu, Jun 01 2023, 9:01 pm

amother Cappuccino wrote:

Yeah but there's stories of dentists sedating and molesting their patients. If there was a team of assistants in there the whole time, okay. Otherwise I'd run far away. And if you sense something is off, find a new dentist.

If the dentist is doing the anesthesia - that's a big problem.

Otherwise - do you think you can stand and watch your child undergo surgery?

gibberish

Thu, Jun 01 2023, 9:23 pm

I believe you that it may be just taking the opportunity to bill more. There is a tremendous amount of fraud and doing unnecessary work in the dental industry. I would also be wary if my kids actually had that amount of cavities or not. Many dentists "find cavities" to fill. Please switch dentists

amother

Outerspace

Thu, Jun 01 2023, 10:20 pm

amother Honey wrote:

Not fishy at all - if the child is under anesthesia the only thing the parent would be doing is watching the professionals do their job.

That’s fine, I have no problem sitting there watching them do their job. I can ask questions, if I have any, and I can make sure they don’t do anything that I will be charged additional for. And most importantly I can make sure my child is safe.

amother

Bergamot

Thu, Jun 01 2023, 10:41 pm

Many pediatric dentist don't let parents in because many parents rile up their child and make it harder on the dentist. They interfere by telling the child what to do instead of letting the child pay attention to the dentist. Making it harder for the dentist to do his work.

You may be a good and calm parent, but put a parent who is nervous in with the child and the child becomes nervous too. And harder to treat. So all parents are then banned because of the few 'bad' ones.

My kids orthodontist office doesn't allow parents in the back during treatment-cuz the orthodontist will spend too much time chatting with the parents (on topics besides treatment) that the office runs behind schedule. But the layout is very open and there is no possibility of someone taking advantage of a patient.

amother

Honey

Thu, Jun 01 2023, 11:51 pm

amother Outerspace wrote:

You're going to talk to the dentist while he's doing his work, ask questions, and make sure he's not doing work that you didn't previously agree to? All while your child is fully sedated?

I wouldn't want to work under those conditions. Sorry - that's not reasonable. That's paranoid.

amother

Seagreen

Fri, Jun 02 2023, 12:05 am

amother Brass wrote:

Op, something tells me you’re in my city. I left that practice because they told me the same thing about anesthesia for my daughter without even trying to talk to her! Zero skills on dealing with kids!. I tried one more place which was even worse. Now I’m considering paying out of pocket for this one child.

I seriously can’t believe Medicaid actually covers anesthesia for cavities so easily. In my experience, they’re so tough with covering expensive procedures. They need to approve it before the work is done, and they often deny it.

amother

Outerspace

Fri, Jun 02 2023, 12:18 am

amother Honey wrote:

Why would my child be fully sedated? I’ve had kids have dental work before, none have ever been fully sedated.
I’ve also been billed for things that were not discussed, or things which weren’t necessary at the time. So yes, I will stay with my children.
I’m not going to chat casually with the dentist. I am going to ask him exactly what he plans to do, and really just keep an eye on my kid. Sometimes they need a hand, sometimes knowing that mommy is in the room is comfort enough. Feel free to call me paranoid. You are misrepresenting or misunderstanding what I’m saying, but I don’t really care. I will stay with my children, and you don’t have to stay with yours. Why must you resort to name calling, because I feel differently than you do?

notshanarishona

Fri, Jun 02 2023, 12:34 am

I can understand 💯 why a dentist would insist on laughing gas for a 3 year old with complex work, I have never seen a 3 year old who will still and cooperate for something uncomfortable like a filling, I can barely get him to sit for 30 seconds when he knows a shot is coming. It’s very hard to properly fill a tooth if someone is moving.
Anesthesia for a 14 year old on the other hand is definitely a red flag about the dentist.

asmileaday

Fri, Jun 02 2023, 12:42 am

amother Honey wrote:

I wouldn't want you working on my child then.
Our pediatric dentists were super friendly and loved chatting while working on my child.
Our current dentist (not pediatric) is also amazing. Warm and friendly and has no issue with parents in the room even though the rooms are pretty tiny.

amother

Honey

Fri, Jun 02 2023, 12:51 am

asmileaday wrote:

In this tiny room is there also an anesthesiologist?

amother

Dill

Fri, Jun 02 2023, 1:07 am

amother Hibiscus wrote:

They get between 90 and 110, not 25. And I've never had any fillings fall out- neither mine, nor my kids.

I didn't mean $25 dollars literally. I meant it as ""super low amount" not worth a good dentists time.

$100 is nothing for a good dentist to be paid for a filling, nothing!

Think about it. How expensive is dental school? How long is an appointment to fill a cavity? Approximately 40 minutes. Does making less than $150 an hour sound lucrative to you? Maybe to a poor Medicaid patient it does but not to your dentist. If a dentist can get a lot more for a filling privately why the heck would anyone halfway decent accept Medicaid to get $100?

Anyone who says otherwise has little to no experience outside of the Medicaid dentist world. The fact that one amother had a worse experience with one private dentist vs 3 Medicaid means nothing. She probably went to the cheapest private dentist around when she wasn't eligible for Medicaid anymore. Also going to be a lousy dentist. Dentists are the richest medical professionals for a reason! There is also a reason why they charge basement prices or accept Medicaid.

amother

Honey

Fri, Jun 02 2023, 1:09 am

asmileaday wrote:

No thank Gd. Our dentists don't do such crazy stuff.

Right - so my comments were specifically addressing a situation where you had a child under general anesthesia.

twizzlers1

Fri, Jun 02 2023, 1:32 am

I am in Israel in the only place that I’ve heard of putting kids to sleep for dental care is in the hospital. My son had a root canal and had to go twice in one week and each time it was over an hour and I just use laughing gas and I was literally in the room the entire time. So somethings definitely sounds off.