Pediatric Dentist?

[lg3]

It definitely depends on your dentist. I used to work in a dental office that was extremely family oriented, and welcomed little ones. We usually had the parent bring in the child (around 2-3 yrs old, assuming no dental concerns on the parent's part) when the parent had their regular cleanings. They saw the parent's teeth being cleaned, etc. and talked all about it. Later on the little ones would come in for their own appointment, or if time permitted, the dentist would see them at the time if they wanted to have him take a look. If you have a good dentist, I see no real need to go elsewhere, but understand those who may want to.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

My dentist is kid friendly--the office is purple, they have satellite tv or video games to watch/play for checkups and procedures--they talk "kid talk" when doing stuff so the kids will understand and more enjoy the experience and they get to pick from the treasure chest when they are done. He is not a pediatric dentist but makes it a warm friendly environment for patients of all ages.

My friend's husband is a pediatric dentist. He has a cool office set up as well. One of my friends kids are patients there and they seem to enjoy it. But we have been going to our dentist for years and don't see the need to change since they do enjoy our present dentist.

It is thoroughly up to you.

I felt comfy with my kids at my dentist since they've known him since they were born as they accompanied me on all my visits.

It would be up to you to sense this from your present dentist. But a dentist who knows how to deal with kids is very very important IMHO whether their practice is dedicated to them or not.

 

[poohluvrs]

Thanks for the feedback, its nice to hear everyones reasonings!

One other question, a child who goes to preschool w/ my kids goes to the pediatric dentist Im looking into; she just turned 4 & already had to have a cavity filled! Is this normal at that age, or is it the Dr pushing for extra bucks?!

 

[SillyMe]

My youngest dd goes to a pediatric dentist. I would pay anything b/c it's worth it. She had one filling put in, and still to this day has no clue that they even gave her a shot to numb her mouth. They're awesome! She's the only one I know who loves going to the dentist.

 

[Scutapipig]

We started with a pediatric dentist who happened to be a 1/2 hour drive across town. At the time, both of my children were special needs children. After three years of subjecting them to torture and the "pediatric" dentist having no tolerance for them, I left. My son left this office with blood vessels burst from screaming in terror so much.

I called a dentist down the street and explained the situation. They weren't sure they would be able to take my son on as a patient, but they were willing to give it a try. They slowly worked with my son at his pace and I left their office with tears of gratitude. After a few visits, he was able to sit happily (if that's even possible) to have a baby tooth pulled and a small cavity filled.

I don't think its a matter of a pediatric dentist or a regular dentist, but rather a matter of finding a dentist who understands you and your family's needs and is willing to work with you so a child doesn't grow up fearing the dentist.

 

[Disney Ella]

I took my kids to a pediatric dentist when they were three for their first visit. I just assumed that I would be allowed to go back with them. The front office staff told me that they would make an exception since this was a first visit, but after that, I couldn't go back with my kids. I knew then that it would be our first and last visit, because there was no way at three they were going to allow strangers to do anything to them without me there.

While I was back in the treatment area with my kids, I saw another dentist work with a boy who looked to be about five. The boy was scared and instead of trying to calm him down, the dentist basically told him, in a mean way, to knock it off. I expected a lot more compassion from someone who purposely set out to work with kids.

I made a lot of calls and found a woman dentist who would let me go back with the kids. She is really good with them and when I mentioned that maybe they would like to go to someone closer now (she is 40 minutes away), they said no way, they like her.

It sounds like there are some good pediatric dentists out there, but mine have done just as well, and in our case, better, with a general dentist.

 

[LBAK]

We went to 2 pediatric dentists for my younger DD and had bad experiences. Let's just say theyhey did not have the personalities for small children and they were super expensive. We decided to use our regular family dentis and she loved him from the first. I think a lot depends on the dentist and her staffs personality.

 

[pkasbohm]

We have taken our kids to a pediatric dentist since my ds(11) was 2. Since then we have added 2 more kids to their roster. We are happy with the decision we made because the kids really like going there. When we tell them they have dentist appt. they comment on something they can't wait to do when they get there.

Pediatrics may cost more but imho it is worth it to have comfortable children!

 

[aprilgail2]

Thanks for the feedback, its nice to hear everyones reasonings!

One other question, a child who goes to preschool w/ my kids goes to the pediatric dentist Im looking into; she just turned 4 & already had to have a cavity filled! Is this normal at that age, or is it the Dr pushing for extra bucks?!

That is not unusual to have a caviety filled at 4. Plenty of kids in my daughers preschool class had them-and they all went to different dentists. My daughter had her first and only one so far in first grade. I only take her to a pediatric dentist, I am sure there are good regualr dentists out there that I could take her to but I like the fact that pediatric dentists go to school for 2-3 more yers after regular dental school just to concentrate on kids dental issues.

 

[dhcoffey]

We just use our dentist for our two girls. She's wonderful and she also talks "kid talk" about what's going on and what's about to happen. Her husband is also a dentist in their practice and he is also great with them. We don't have any pediatric dentists anywhere near us, so I'm glad we found ours.

 

[ohiominnie]

My dd used to go to our dentist. She ended up having a root canal on a baby tooth! FF a couple years, dentist no longer takes our insurance, so we find a new one. Ds has something funky going on with his mouth (turned out to be a cross bite) so I took them both to a pediatric dentist. While I think that my adult dentist would be alright for them, we LOVE our pediatric dentist. He helped figure out the cross bite thing and refer us to a great orthodontist. He also was flabbergasted that our old dentist would do a root canal on a BABY tooth!!! He said too much cost and too many risks of complications to put a child through that.

He has been nothing but wonderful.

He did take a leave of absence while his son had a bone marrow transplant and the interim dentist was not as good. ds had to have a baby tooth pulled for the orthodontic treatment and I told him I wanted him to have nitrous oxide. temp dentist was like "oh, no, he's a big boy, he's not scared." one yank on his tooth and my ds nearly jumped and hit the ceiling. I said "NOW does he qualify for the nitrous????" (@*^&#(&^%@*O

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Thanks for the feedback, its nice to hear everyones reasonings!

One other question, a child who goes to preschool w/ my kids goes to the pediatric dentist Im looking into; she just turned 4 & already had to have a cavity filled! Is this normal at that age, or is it the Dr pushing for extra bucks?!

A cavity is a cavity.

My 4yo on her most recent visit had tons of plaque--abnormal for the age...so we have to try and be more diligent with the scrubbing.

Also catching cavities early--you might be picturing a completely drilled out tooth..it coudl have been just a surface cavity.

I have a couple of these..but due to baby we are waiting until afterwards to take care of them. But they will be done ASAP and will be easy peezy fills.

Better to do it early until it does more tooth damage.

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

I took my kids to a pediatric dentist when they were three for their first visit. I just assumed that I would be allowed to go back with them. The front office staff told me that they would make an exception since this was a first visit, but after that, I couldn't go back with my kids. I knew then that it would be our first and last visit, because there was no way at three they were going to allow strangers to do anything to them without me there.

While I was back in the treatment area with my kids, I saw another dentist work with a boy who looked to be about five. The boy was scared and instead of trying to calm him down, the dentist basically told him, in a mean way, to knock it off. I expected a lot more compassion from someone who purposely set out to work with kids.

I made a lot of calls and found a woman dentist who would let me go back with the kids. She is really good with them and when I mentioned that maybe they would like to go to someone closer now (she is 40 minutes away), they said no way, they like her.

It sounds like there are some good pediatric dentists out there, but mine have done just as well, and in our case, better, with a general dentist.

wow! I would never take my DD to an office that wouldn't let me go back with her - ever! She doesn't need it, but I insist on it. You did the right thing!

 

[BeNJeNWaFFLe]

Thanks for the feedback, its nice to hear everyones reasonings!

One other question, a child who goes to preschool w/ my kids goes to the pediatric dentist Im looking into; she just turned 4 & already had to have a cavity filled! Is this normal at that age, or is it the Dr pushing for extra bucks?!

It is very possible she really has a cavity. I remember having cavities in my baby teeth. I have genetically soft teeth. Almost all of my molars have (now filled) cavities. It has nothing to do with how much or how little I brush my teeth or chew gum or eat sweets. They just happen.

 

[U2_rocks!]

My dd used to go to our dentist. She ended up having a root canal on a baby tooth! FF a couple years, dentist no longer takes our insurance, so we find a new one. Ds has something funky going on with his mouth (turned out to be a cross bite) so I took them both to a pediatric dentist. While I think that my adult dentist would be alright for them, we LOVE our pediatric dentist. He helped figure out the cross bite thing and refer us to a great orthodontist. He also was flabbergasted that our old dentist would do a root canal on a BABY tooth!!! He said too much cost and too many risks of complications to put a child through that.

My DS had a root canal done on a baby tooth. It wasn't a big deal, and the anesthetic was the same as for any cavity. A baby tooth has very shallow roots, so it wasn't hard to do. The reason it is done is to preserve the spacing in the teeth - yanking out the tooth would have caused orthodontic issues, which are way more expensive to fix in the long run! The tooth that had the deep cavity (that needed the root canal) was one of the incisors, which was more than 3 years away from falling out on its own, and it was hurting DS, so something had to be done. I was fully behind my dentist on that decision.

One other reason I love this dentist is that she uses a water laser to drill cavities in the kids' teeth - that means no anesthetic at all! His other cavities were done that way - it was only the root canal that needed one injection in the gum eventually, when it was clear that DS' tooth was too sore for the Waterlase.

DS' root canal cost a couple of hundred dollars - DH's cost a lot more! That's the difference between a simple baby tooth procedure and a much more complicated adult one.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I have never had a great dentist so I always took my kids to a PED one.

 

[camreesmom]

I have never had a great dentist so I always took my kids to a PED one.

I know the feeling. My kids' pediatric dentist is so wonderful with them and not hard on the eyes either. I wish I could go to him. My kids go to the dentist every 6 months without fail. They start asking a few weeks before, "when is it time for my appt?". I only wish I could go to a pediatric dentist. And no, they are not all created equal....there are two in our general area, about 40 minutes away, one won't let the parents go back with the kids, the other encourages the parents to stay with the children, we go with the one who lets me stay with the kids. No way, no how is someone doing something to my kids without me there.

 

[LiLIrishChick63]

pediatric dentists are specialized on how to deal with kids a lot better than general dentists do. i would definatly recommend going to a pediactric dentist for them at least until they're teenagers.