I have to give a bit of background. I'll try to keep it brief.

Back in September we took Madalyn to the dentist, "Dentist A", and found she had two cavities, one of which was severe enough to need a cap. Despite this Dentist A could not get us in for an appointment to fix the teeth for another month after that. In the interim our coverage with Dentist A ended, resulting in my having to cancel the appointment to have the work, as Dentist A only takes this particular coverage and does not accept self-paying clients, even if they have the money.

As soon as I determined I didn't know if we'd get the coverage back, I called and made an appointment with a different dentist, Dentist B, so we could just pay out of pocket and get it taken care of once and for all. There was a consult appointment where they took x-rays and came to the same conclusion -- filling in one, cap on the other. Then there was a bit of a wait for the next appointment.

Appointment day arrives. Madalyn is nervous. We arrive and she's crying. Not hysterical, not violent, just snuffling because she doesn't know what's going to happen. We are greeted literally before the door has closed behind us by a person who says, "If she's going to be LIKE THAT maybe she needs to go see Dentist C" (who is a local dentist who does sedation). Uh, excuse me? "Like that"? Like what? Nervous? Yeah, because NOBODY is ever nervous when they go to the dentist. That's not common at all. That's why they spent the entire time I was getting my teeth filled last time repeatedly asking me if I was "sure" I didn't want the gas.

Dentist B then comes out, takes one look at Madalyn and immediately tells his people to call Dentist C and make us an appointment. They didn't even TRY to put Madalyn in the chair and put the nitrous on her. If they had I think she'd have been fine. I pointed this out and was told that she wouldn't be able to breathe through her nose since she'd been crying. Um, hello, ever heard of blowing your nose? How do you know the state of her sinuses? It almost seemed as though they were looking for a reason not to deal with her. They had seen her before and she had behaved beautifully. They had NO REASON to assume she was going to freak out on them and they could have, at the very least, put her in the chair to see what happened. But we never got past the lobby. By the time I finished talking to the receptionist Madalyn had stopped crying and even asked why we were leaving as we walked out the door.

They had tried to call Dentist C for me but the office was closed that day so they passed the buck to me. Then Thanksgiving rolled around and this other place is closed on Mondays so I only just now got to call them today to see about an appointment. Now, despite the fact that TWO OTHER DENTISTS have determined what needs to be done, AND the fact that we have x-rays that show what needs to be done, Dentist C will not do the work without a "consult" first -- which, conveniently, costs $75 aside from however bloody much they will charge for the actual work. Oh yes, and they only see patients three days a week, and we can't even get in for the consult until December 20th. God knows when they will be able to get around to actually FIXING HER FRIGGING TEETH. So she is sitting here with her teeth rotting out of her head like some backwoods hillbilly and there's nothing I can do about it. Because God forbid someone should miss a chance to bilk the insurance companies (or, in this case, me) out of an extra $75, even though all the preliminary work has already been done TWICE. It's been FOUR MONTHS since we found she had a cavity bad enough to require a crown. Do these people think it's going to spontaneously quit decaying? It's just getting worse and worse the longer this drags on! It seems like there should be some amount of hurry-up involved here but it seems I'm the only one who feels that way.

Oh, and I also tried explaining to the woman on the phone at Dentist C's that I really think the gas would be enough and that I'd like to try it before we knock her completely out, and she was fairly dismissive and said that was for us to determine at the consult. I love it when people who've never met my kid know more about her than I do.....or maybe that just happens when there's money involved, as I'm sure sedation pays way more than nitrous does.

If anyone knows a good dentist who is reasonable and could actually deign to make time to see Madalyn sometime before her damned teeth fall out of her head, I'm open for suggestions.