The Dreaded Dentist Visit

A couple of years back, we tried to take Cole to the dentist for his first check-up.

Tried.

It didn't go so well. It involved some major fit-throwing. He yelled at everyone who so much as looked like they might make him open his mouth. He kicked and hit Mommy and Daddy. He kicked the wall. He kicked the dentist. And, it all ended with absolutely no teeth being looked at. So, it ended:

Cole-1. Dentist-0.

Since that time, we have mentioned several times that we really needed to get him back to a dentist (full well knowing he was not welcome back at our family dental office!). And, the memory of the last nightmarish dentist visit was just enough to make us put off finding a new one.

But, today was the day. We took him to see Dr. Childers, at the suggestion of Nana. And, yes, it was every bit as bad as the last time. Actually...to give him a little credit....he started off very good! He walked back to the exam room just fine, hopped right up in the chair, and was very pleasant. Until....they tried to take x-rays. They managed to get 3 out of 4 taken (with a huge fight, I might add!). And, then Dr. Childers came in to look at his teeth. Let's just say it wasn't pretty, but he did manage to somehow look at his teeth. He found 4 cavaties!!!!! *ugh*

3 out of the 4 cavaties are in between his molors (upper and lower). And, just to make sure he was seeing all of the erosion, he ordered that 4th x-ray be taken. They asked Mommy to leave the room and it took 3 nurses to hold him down to take that last x-ray. I'm certain the screaming and name-calling could be heard from miles away!

Anyway....to make a long story short....our little dentist visit turned into a 2 hour ordeal. And, we left scheduling a dental procedure at the hospital! Dr. Childers does not want to simply fill the cavaties because (1) they won't last and (2) because Cole is a terrible patient, he wants to avoid doing any future work to his molars. So, he wants to put on 8 stainless crowns (4 upper and 4 lower) and do 2 root procedures because the cavities are deep on 2 teeth. And, Cole will have to go into the hospital (outpatient) to have this done because he won't coorporate enough to have it done in the office.

Needless to say, Mommy left the office in complete shock! I never expected that he would need this amount of dental work. I guess we shouldn't have put off the dentist so long.... Bad parents....

UPDATE: 8/27/09: The dental office called today to inform us that our insurance will not accept the only hospital Dr. Childer's can perform the procedure at. Therefore, we now have to find another dentist. Ugh.