I’m late to this post but finally remembered
to ask my DH (general dentist of 20yrs, sees a fair number of kids, not a ton) about it.

He laughed and said a pediatric dentist wouldn’t blow an hour on what should take 20min in this case unless (1) dentist really thinks kid is going to be a problem with behavior/compliance and perhaps kid’s parents are delusional about this or (2) patient is on Medical Assistance- pediatric dentists will milk that for anything they can get

DH said that he has done plenty of fillings on kids that age. For good patients or kids of staff members, he will give it 2 attempts (if kid is non compliant one day, he will have them come back another day for a 2nd try)- spending a lot of time and losing $ and production doing so. He uses his full arsenal of patience, video glasses, buzzy for the shot etc. He is a nice guy and super good with kids. If after 2 attempts he can’t get reasonable compliance- he refers to pediatric dentist.

He said that for our own kids- he’d not allow oral sedation for such a simple procedure unless clearly warranted and have tried the above first- at minimum. Given the age of the child in the post, and the (fairly simple) nature of the work needed.

That said, he also doesn’t see the reluctance about using nitrous. It can be enormously helpful. Other times, kids are frightened of the mask itself and it makes things worse.

His advice is to call your own general dentist and see if they can help you out. Pediatric dentists are important and have their role, but can be quite overzealous. He has a fair number of stories about this.

Are sealants really necessary?

My kid is special needs and we went to a pediatric dentist who pushed emotionally to do this. I left crying. It was for a “possible” cavity and sealants.

Later I went to a better dentist who did nitrous and he did excellent. Very predatory that dentists are doing this.

Ask if you can wait and see/use a remineralizing toothpaste since it’s a shallow cavity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is oral sedation? Novocain? Or nitrous? Or something else? (Asking also because I was frustrated about our dentist filling my kids first cavity with no pain management. But maybe that’s the norm?)

OP Here - The dentist mentioned using Demerol or Midazolam. It's supposedly a drinkable solution. No food or drink from midnight the night before.

Omg Demerol, are you kidding???

If I was forced to use one of those two I would choose Demerol. It’s been around forever with no weird possible side effects like all the new drugs. But for one cavity it seems excessive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We see a family dentist and two of my kids had a tiny cavity between teeth like this. If your child is getting regular checkups, the cavities should be fairly superficial and they shouldn’t need any sedation. Ours never even mentioned sedation and the kids were probably 6-8 yrs old (can’t remember exactly). It was quick and painless for both of them.

OP Here - The X rays showed that it is relatively superficial. We're religious about dental cleanings every 6 months, so I was pretty surprised that it's even there. Good to know that it was quick and painless for yours. After reading the responses, I'm leaning toward a 2nd opinion and finding someone that will do this without the drugs.

Nitrous oxide is not a drug. As soon as you take the mask off the effect immediately stops. If it’s too much your child can ask to remove the mask.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is oral sedation? Novocain? Or nitrous? Or something else? (Asking also because I was frustrated about our dentist filling my kids first cavity with no pain management. But maybe that’s the norm?)

OP Here - The dentist mentioned using Demerol or Midazolam. It's supposedly a drinkable solution. No food or drink from midnight the night before.

Omg Demerol, are you kidding???

Anonymous wrote:Pediatric dentists are scammers. They take advantage of anxious parents (since those are the type that seek out pediatric dentists in the first place).

+1 peds dentists started after a generation of kids being traumatized (I was one of them), but there’s also a group of less-then-trustworthy ones out there. Separately—Don’t go down the rabbit hole of Medicaid dental scams. Makes me furious. (I worked in OIG).

I wouldn’t have a problem with using oral sedation, if you think your kid will be anxious. It’s an anxiety med.

Anonymous wrote:We changed from a pediatric dentist to a family dentist after wanting a second opinion on capping a tooth for my son. The family dentist said my son didn’t need anything as the tooth was going to fall out probably relatively soon anyhow, and they would just keep an eye on it. The pediatric dentist was warning me of the potential infections etc. I would get another opinion.

I'm another person who left a pediatric practice after they told me they required nitrous for my 8 year old. My dentist filled the very shallow cavity with only numbing gel and no pain.

Pediatric dentists are scammers. They take advantage of anxious parents (since those are the type that seek out pediatric dentists in the first place).

We changed from a pediatric dentist to a family dentist after wanting a second opinion on capping a tooth for my son. The family dentist said my son didn’t need anything as the tooth was going to fall out probably relatively soon anyhow, and they would just keep an eye on it. The pediatric dentist was warning me of the potential infections etc. I would get another opinion.

I know my kid the best. My kid will not tolerate the anxiety and pain of drilling sound or needle part etc, he needs to get completely knocked out if they want to do a filling on him.

Anonymous wrote:We see a family dentist and two of my kids had a tiny cavity between teeth like this. If your child is getting regular checkups, the cavities should be fairly superficial and they shouldn’t need any sedation. Ours never even mentioned sedation and the kids were probably 6-8 yrs old (can’t remember exactly). It was quick and painless for both of them.

OP Here - The X rays showed that it is relatively superficial. We're religious about dental cleanings every 6 months, so I was pretty surprised that it's even there. Good to know that it was quick and painless for yours. After reading the responses, I'm leaning toward a 2nd opinion and finding someone that will do this without the drugs.