Inigo has a cavity in his right back lower molar. We took him to a specialist dentist last week, and found out that the enamel on that tooth never formed properly during my pregnancy, so that is why it has rotted. He isn’t in pain, but left untreated it will get worse and cause infections, eventually damaging the tooth underneath (his adult tooth). So we have to do something about it. The specialist quoted us $1800 for the dental work, plus $1200 for a day stay in hospital, plus $600 for the anaesthetist. THe better part of $4,000.
So today we went to my normal dentist for a second opinion. I had my teeth cleaned, while Inigo watched patiently. Then she had a quick look at his teeth while he watched tele in the roof. Then, she did a quick x-ray to determine how bad the decay was.
And then she told me she could treat it in the chair, without a general anaesthetic!!!
Which she then did, all while Inigo watched ABC for Kids. There are serious advantages to rationing TV watching!
All the treatment for both of us cost less than $200, including x-rays. So we went out for sushi and bought some gorgeous wooden blocks, and still felt thrifty.
Disco Knitter 
Thank goodness for second opinions! I had my wisdoms taken out last year. Cost me an arm and a leg – in fact, it cost 3x an iPad. Im measuring everything in terms of iPads. Electricity bill? Its half an iPad, grocery spending, thats 1/8 of an iPad!
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We had a similar experience with Ariel, eastern suburbs specialist went from one rotten tooth to $7000 worth of work and several hours under general.
All while protesting her concerns about GA, and with a straight face.
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Thats not good news about Inigos tooth but the story has a great ending.
Inigo, weve never met, but Im very proud of you!
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But dental care is free for kids till they are 18???????????
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Free if we go to the dental hospital, and go on an waiting list.
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Well done – some of those in the dental racket just see us punters as big money machines. He probably wanted to get a quick skiiing week in, hencethe crazy quote… And congrats on getting in the chair first – seeing you not having an issue with it was very smart
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I put myself on the public dental waiting list – about 6 years ago. Haven’t made the head of the queue yet.
Hugo had a dental issue a couple of years ago and our dentist told us to see a pediatric dentist at great cost or it would all end badly. Instead, we did nothing and the problem went away (discoloured tooth caused by tooth-to-concrete incident)
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I guess we are lucky to live in the Hunter. When Jude had tooth ache last year, I phoned the public dental appointment hotline who asked questions such as the extent of his pain. We got an appointment for the next day, then weekly appointments while his fillings and extractions were done. They wanted to space out the treatments to avoid trauma. Just had to flash our medicare card at each appointment and it only cost me the usual tooth fairy subsidy. Phoebe received a letter in the post recently as a reminder for her checkup. Because Jude had such an unusual problem with his teeth, they are both required to have free check ups every 6 months.
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