In the big picture - this aint so bad, but still.........

[demismom]

When you find out your 3 year old needs 4 crowns and 3 fillings you go WHAT????????????

We're getting a second opinion, but I used to work for a dentist, and am pretty sure they're not trying to pull something. My poor little baby AND my wallet. Ouch! I'm definitely going to shop around, the first quote is $1600! YIKES. We have NO dental insurance either AND they're not willing to work with us at all, we have to pay all up front. They will do it in 3 appts though, but still that's $550 an appt!

[CATCHMEIFYOUCAN]

OUCH ! When I was a baby I had 8 cavities at once .. I was adopted from Vietnam, so you know how money was even tighter back in the day ! I feel for you ! Definitely shop around, they can't force you to pay all at once, or can they ? I guess if you don't have insurance, makes a difference ?

Best Wishes, CMIYC

[whatamess]

Poor baby!

My seven year old, when about three/four, had a similar issue. With no dental, we ould not do the $2,000. We were lucky my MIL from Korea sent us plane tickets. We went to Korea and had all her work done for $250!!
WAM

[demismom]

Wow - I wish I knew of a way to do that WAM! We don't qualify for Medicaid or anything like that either, so we HAVE to pay it all ourselves. We must just a tad too much money.

CMIYC - yeah, they can make you pay alright, they just won't do the work until you hand over the money. How backwards is that? I would understand a deposit or something, but geesh, I'd like to see their faces if they went to the dealership and were told they had to pay up front before the work was done. I doubt it'd bother them though.

[juststupid]

Yikes.. I hope youfind a dentist willing to let you make payments. Kinda makes me not want to take my 3 year old to the dentist... hate to see what they tell me especially since we have to tackle him just to brush his teeth.

[SinkingFast]

Do you possibly have a university/college with a School of Dentistry where you live??

We used to have a neighbor in the same situation. No dental insurance. When she needed work done for herself or the kids, she'd go to the School of Dentistry Patient Care Center. The work is done by Dentistry students that are getting ready to Graduate. And they are overseen by their professors who are registered Dentists.

We compared pricing once. She usually paid about what my out of pocket copay was with our dental insurance. So that's a thought for you to get the work done cheaper. She got quality work for the same price I was paying out of pocket.

[AMISLANDER]

Do you possibly have a university/college with a School of Dentistry where you live??

We used to have a neighbor in the same situation. No dental insurance. When she needed work done for herself or the kids, she'd go to the School of Dentistry Patient Care Center. The work is done by Dentistry students that are getting ready to Graduate. And they are overseen by their professors who are registered Dentists.

We compared pricing once. She usually paid about what my out of pocket copay was with our dental insurance. So that's a thought for you to get the work done cheaper. She got quality work for the same price I was paying out of pocket.

great idea!

[JollyGG]

I'm trying to figure out how a three year old gets cavities. Did you ask your dentist if the enamel on the little guys teeth is okay? Can they do any kind of sealant on a child that young to protect his other teeth?

Basically why did he get cavities and is there anyway you can keep this from happening again?

Are your kids allowed to drink pop or eat sticky candy? Mabey, some of those habits need to change.

I know, right now, you are dealing the with the current situation. But, you certainally don't want to go through this again.

We got our three year old one of those electric toothbrushes. He still doesn't do a very good job, but I think it gets the teeth cleaned a little better.

[SinkingFast]

Different kids inherit different genes. One of our daughters went thru that. Needing fillings in some of her "baby" teeth.

And her eating habits weren't any different than our other 2 who didn't have that problem. Plenty of milk. Vitamins daily. No sticky candy. Sugar free gum.

It's irritating and seems like a useless expense. After all, they are baby teeth that will fall out. But when they are gonna keep the baby teeth until they are 10-12 years old, you've gotta get them fixed. If they loose those baby teeth, it can cause problems for their permanent teeth coming in later.

[demismom]

She eats quite a bit of cheese, drinks milks, yogurt, does have about 3 ounces daily of 7-up, but then half the time it sits in the glass, she just prefers water. She's definitely NOT my Child when it comes to pop.

Her Daddy, my husband has HORRIBLE teeth, had to get dentures at the age of 19. My teeth are darn near perfect, 3 itty bitty cavities in 39 years. Go figure, she inherits Daddy's bad teeth.

I did lack in the brushing dept, only once a day and usually in the morning, we now brush twice a day, morning and just before bed.

[FilingOnMyOwn]

Is it even necessary to fix the first set of teeth? They are all going to fall out and the secondary set grows in anyways right?

[demismom]

Yep, it is necessary

Is it even necessary to fix the first set of teeth? They are all going to fall out and the secondary set grows in anyways right?

It's necessary (I used to work for a dentist) and if you saw the result from NOT fixing them, you'd fix them too.

What happens is, let's say you let them rot away or pull them. She's not going to lose the 4 back ones until she's 10 years old. So the teeth around those teeth start moving towards this big gaping hole. Now, the permanent teeth have nowhere to go but sideways because the spot they would have come up into is no long there or so small they won't fit. That's pretty much the gist of it.

[originalhealer]

I have a bunch of work that needs to be done on my teeth....I'm sure it will be $10,000 or more.

One of my co-workers told me that when she had to get a lot of expensive work done on her teeth, she spent a few days in Mexico and got it done there for a fraction of the cost.

[whatamess]

My daughter had three front teeth, yes, thats three sets. First one fell out. Second one comes in. They looked like fangs, third set starts to come in over top second set....second set pulled out, now third set need braces to set them up straight. We have to wait for the rest of her teeth to come in first though and hope that there are no more thirds. She looks like dracula in pictures and it is a shame because she is stunning otherwise..(ok I am bias)
I take excellent care of her teeth and mine, yet she has had many cavities, an abcess on dental work done that had to be redone, drinks no soda and tons of milk. Yet her teeth are very weak. I think it was because I had toxemia while pregnant maybe. An overseas Dr. told me it depletes calcium. No US Dr has given an explanation.
Her one filling fell out last week. We had to fix that yesterday. I wish I had a clue WHY she has such freaky teeth!
WAM

[demismom]

Well, I got a second opinion and this Dr. feels that we can temporarily stave off some of the problem, but not stop it. He thinks it's totally genetic, my husband has horrible teeth, just my princesses luck, inherits Daddy's bad teeth.