Second Opinion for 2 year old?

[uggaugga]

Hello, I hope I'm posting this in the correct forum and that someone can throw in their thoughts.

We took our 2 year old to the dentist as she seemed to be having some pain in her back molars. They took a look at her teeth and said they would probably need to root canal and crown every single one as the decay is extensive. I'm heart broken and absolutely scared to death about this as she will need general anesthesia. She said our insurance will cover 100% (although the pre-authorization is going to take 4-6 weeks...it's an awful long time to wait), but that's not what I'm totally worried about. Should I get a second opinion from a different dentist to be sure that she actually needs this work done or is it difficult to get a second opinion without x-rays? They didn't do x-rays on my 2 year old when we went in and said that it would be best to do it while she's under general anesthesia and then they'll run out the work plan to us, but it more sounded like she mentioned it would be to see if any need to be extracted and then get to work - she seemed pretty set that every single one needs a crown. I took a look at her teeth the best I could at home and the front bottom ones look perfectly fine - they don't look abnormal (no cavities, decay, etc.) and I'm not convinced that those ones needed work. After all, the dentist only took a look and didn't do x-rays, so if there was something there she could see, I would think I should've been able to see it, too. Part of me is just wondering if maybe we should wait, take her to the appointment, and when they have the actual x-rays that they could tell us what the treatment plan is and we say yay or nay, but even if they wanted the most money possible by doing work even if it wasn't necessary, we wouldn't know as we probably wouldn't get to see the x-rays and we're not dentists. I don't know, I am having a hard time feeling at ease with the place we took them. I'm not sure how I feel about in-house anesthesia for a 2 year old...I'm really scared.

I want to do the best I can for my child, to get her treatment ASAP to avoid pain, infections, and allow her to have teeth to chew with as that's important. Would it help to try to get a second opinion if x-rays haven't even been done? I am sure most dentists can look at teeth without an x-ray and have a good general thought about what needs to be done and of course x-rays are a good confirming tool. Also, I'm not sure if a second opinion will help any because I don't want to delay my child's dental treatment any further, even though it scares me because I definitely don't want her hurting. I know getting a second opinion, I would pay for it out of my pocket as I'm sure that insurance will not since they already had their teeth looked at and cleaned.

Any thoughts on what the best thing is to do is welcome.

 

[Dr M]

Good day

It does sound a bit strange that the dentist told you that the baby teeth would need root canal treatments or pulpectomies, if no x-rays were taken.
Pulpectomies are usually done in cases where the decay went into the pulp chamber of the tooth. This is usually done by confirming with an x-ray, to rule out abscess formation and open root apices etc. After such treatment, a crown can be placed on the the tooth to prevent fracture or leakage, leading to treatment failure.
However, if the child complains about pain, and the pain is spontaneous, and a clear clinical cavity can be seen, it is already an indication that the cavity might be in the nerve.
Since she is 2 years old, co-operation also might have been an issue and therefore x-rays might not have been possible.
That being said, you are well within your rights to seek out a second opinion.
Without seeing a photo or x-ray it will be difficult to assess if the first dentist gave sound advice.
Do you perhaps have photos of the back teeth?

 

[uggaugga]

Good day

It does sound a bit strange that the dentist told you that the baby teeth would need root canal treatments or pulpectomies, if no x-rays were taken.
Pulpectomies are usually done in cases where the decay went into the pulp chamber of the tooth. This is usually done by confirming with an x-ray, to rule out abscess formation and open root apices etc. After such treatment, a crown can be placed on the the tooth to prevent fracture or leakage, leading to treatment failure.
However, if the child complains about pain, and the pain is spontaneous, and a clear clinical cavity can be seen, it is already an indication that the cavity might be in the nerve.
Since she is 2 years old, co-operation also might have been an issue and therefore x-rays might not have been possible.
That being said, you are well within your rights to seek out a second opinion.
Without seeing a photo or x-ray it will be difficult to assess if the first dentist gave sound advice.
Do you perhaps have photos of the back teeth?

Unfortunately, I'm still working on trying to get photos of her teeth. It's going to take some big convincing, I guess. If I manage to get them, I will post here.

Yes, when we brought her back and stopped by the x-ray station they just said, "Oh, we're not going to do x-rays, she's too small. They usually don't cooperate." and we got in a room. After looking on the back teeth myself, they have deep gaps in the middle that can be clearly seen so I wouldn't be surprised if those needed the root canal and then a cap, but the other ones I'm not so sure.