Micah's Dentist Update

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I know that is a thrilling title.  I'm sure you're thinking, "Micah's Dentist Update?! I have been waiting all week for this!" Not.  But this has been my entire week, and so I shall blog it.  

You probably read about Micah's dentist appointment in my last post.  If you didn't, you might want to start here.  

So, on Thursday morning I went to the pediatric dentist again to pick up Micah's x-rays for a 2nd opinion.  When I walked in, the receptionist said she needed to talk to me, and took me into the back office.  Something told me that couldn't be good.  Despite me feeling uneasy with the dentist, this lady was actually awesome.  She had been on the phone with my insurance company trying to figure out what exactly our co-payment was from the first visit on Tuesday, since the wording was confusing in the schedule of benefits. Turns out that because this dentist was a specialist, we owed about $450 more than what we paid on the first visit.  Ouch.  She apologize profusely and said that she would not charge me that, but would instead just charge me this one $90 fee I hadn't yet paid and call it even.  Done.  I wasn't happy with the extra $90, but it was way better than $450.  She was seriously the nicest lady ever.

That afternoon I went back to our primary dentist to get a 2nd opinion. She said she agreed with the pediatric dentist and said all the work needed to be done: 8 fillings, 1 mini-root canal, and a crown.   Ugh.  She said that we shouldn't even use that insurance, because it wouldn't help much, but rather just become a cash patient and ask for a discount wherever we wanted to go.

Today I took Micah to a 3rd dentist for a 3rd opinion.  It was a woman who we saw when he chipped his tooth at 2 years old. She has raving reviews and everyone around here takes their kids to her.  She spent at least 30 minutes with us and became Micah's best friend.  Seriously, he loved her.  First of all, she has posters of Prince Caspian (from the Chronicles of Narnia) all over her office; turns out he is her nephew.  Yeah, she treats all the stars around here ;)  (There were others as well).  

The dentist said to another little girl in the office, "We don't give shots here."  Micah whipped his head around to me and said, "Mommy!! She said they don't use shots here!!!"  (Now, you and I both know that she does, but the kids seriously don't think she does).  

Anyway, she told me that he does not need all of that work, and she is going to try to fix the tooth without a crown, and without having him going under general anesthesia.  She took him into another patient's room and had him observe her working on the girl, and he was fascinated.  The girl said, "That didn't hurt at all!"  which totally helped too :)  

In the end, she said she'd give us a discount and we wouldn't need at least $1200 worth of work that the first dentist prescribed.  We will still have to pay a hefty $2000 or so for the rest, but I know she is the best choice for him.  We also did pay $80 for today, but the 3rd consult was the charm.

Sometimes, it is just worth the money!  And now, ladies and gentlemen, we pray for the money to be provided by the Lord!