the saga of the teeth continues

This week, the value of getting a second opinion was reinforced.

Back in December we were referred to a pediatric dental practice by our family doctor, who felt that they might have better luck dealing with Calum's cavities, and also thought Megan might need a root canal. It took them well over a month to fit us in, so it was only on Thursday that we managed to see the dentist.

I liked this dentist, but we were dismayed by her news. She said Megan had 10 cavities and would need a crown (though, fortunately, not a root canal) on the tooth with the deepest cavity. She also suggested we consider general anesthesia for Calum, which seemed somewhat drastic to me, but she was fine with trying other options for him first so that seemed okay. She told us we'd need to book a total of 6 appointments for Megan's work and 3 appointments for Calum.

Anyway, the worst news came when we tried to book those appointments. The earliest that we could get the work done was March 22nd. This seemed like a ridiculous wait to me, especially considering the urgency of fixing Megan's worst cavity. So, I started calling some friends and got the name of another dentist downtown. It was like night and day! Friday morning the receptionist cheerfully said that they could fit us in on Saturday morning, and could we pick up the x-rays from the other practice first? I certainly could! I happened to be going in for a filling myself and asked our family dentist about this guy, and she just raved about him - she had nothing but praise and was glad to know that we were taking our kids to him.

This morning we walked into the new dentist's office and walked out again an hour and a half later with two fillings done - including the worst cavity in Megan's mouth. He didn't see any need for a crown, and quickly drilled & filled the tooth. He also said he didn't see ten cavities in need of filling, and that we could possibly get all the rest of the work Megan needed done on the next visit. What a relief!

After the appointment we spent some time downtown - browsed in the big Chapters store on Robson St, had a big, late lunch at Hon's, and spent an hour at the aquarium. We arrived home about half an hour ago happy but with sore legs from all that walking around. :-) The kids have pretty much forgotten about their fillings already.