Question:
We have been told that our 10yr old daughter needs a root canal. We made an
appointment with an endodontist to have this done. He gave her one shot to
numb her tooth and then claimed he could not do the procedure and we should
see a pediatric dentist.
I called our dental savings plan and they searched for a pediatric dentist as
far as 50 miles away from our home and nothing. They said I could try and
find a dentist to do the procedure or another enodontist or they recommended
that I look into a therapeutic pulpotomy.
I have read what a pulpotomy is all about, but how do you know which
treatment to use? Will a dentist do a pulpotomy or a root canal on a child?
Are there other treatments to be done after/later a pulpotomy? I simply can't
afford the $800 price tag to go to a pediatric dentist not in my program for
a root canal. What is the cost of a pulpotomy?
This will be her first visit to a dentist that wasn't a routine cleaning or
check up. She has had no cavities or fillings until now and not only will she
need this treatment, but she will also need two cavities filled.
Can you please just try and give me some information I can work with to make
the right decision?
Answer:
Then I, for one, don't see why the Endo could not do the proceedure. He
might have to do some apexification (root closure), but again: if this
rear molar is her permanent tooth, I think the Endo should be able to
handle this.
I hope you get some more opinions on this.
Did the Endodontist say _why_ he couldn't finish the root canal therapy?
Is it just possible that your insurance policy doesn't pay very well for
root canals? Maybe that's why he backed out.
You may not be able to find anyone to do the procedure for HMO fees.
Especially if the kid does not have perfect behavior.
He did not say why....After the first shot she teared up (who wouldn't) He
said then that he didn't think he could do it. He just walked out. We had to
get the nurse to go see what he was going to to. That whole time she was
sitting there getting more and more nervous. When he finally came back he
started to give her another shot and she started crying again. He just put
his stuff down and said he wouldn't do it.
I don't have any HMO it is more of a discount program. The total I was going
to pay was $400. Not to darn shabby if you ask me.
I would say for a 10 yr old she did have perfect behavior. If the endo had
just stuck with it, it would have been fine. But he left her there to get
scared.
There ya go.... go up to the dental school and find an Endo there to do
it. S/he'll be able to afford to spend more time and it will be well
done.
Hope you are able to get it done. Would be a shame to have to extract
it, but the worst is to just leave it in there for long periods of time
with no treatment.
