Has anyone been able to have ODS and Kaiser work together for dental IV anesthesia? My 5 yo grandson needs to have a tooth pulled and have a couple of fillings done. His dental insurance is ODS and medical is Kaiser. The dentist he has now will not go to Kaiser to do the work so that Kaiser can provide the anesthesiaologist. Do you know of any dentist, in the greater Portland area/Salem, who accepts ODS who might do the work at a Kaiser hospital instead of in their office?
Has anyone had their dentist use IV anesthesia for dental procedures on their child? This is the first I've heard of using IV anesthesia. If Chase had ODS coverage they would do it in the hospital. Since he doesn't, they'll do it in the office bringing in an anesthesiologist which will cost his mother between $800-$1000. Any experience with office use of IV anesthesia? A nurse in earlier post said it should always be done in a hospital.
Addition: My daughter just reminded me that the reason the dentist wants to use anesthesia instead of gas is that he has enlarged tonsils. His speech therapists thinks it's possible the enlarged tonsils interfere with his speech. He has an appointment with his pediatrician next week.
We took him to Dr. Pike, whose office is in Sylvan, west of Portland. He does have privileges at Kaiser but he said he will do the procedures in 3 sessions with nitrous oxide. My grandson, who was very wiggly with the last dentist who wanted to use anesthesia was calm and sat still with Dr. Stephen Pike. Dr. Pike's office is very children oriented. Dr. Pike has written a book on how to reduce children's anxiety at dental appointments. We took the grandchildren there a couple of years ago but I wanted a dentist closer to me. sorry I did that. The distance, really only about 15 miles is worth the care that he gives.
Hi M.,
I think it may be challenging to find a doc who works with both Kaiser and ODS. Kaiser is an HMO, and it's rare to find an HMO doc who works outside the system as well.
My best recommendation for you would be to call around to ODS dentists and find one who does anesthesia. This is becoming more and more common, and more dentists are getting trained in anesthesia. There are also a lot of other options available besides IV anesthesia.
Hi. I have no experience with ods and kaiser but I did have to have my son go to a hospital (emanuel) and have to use aneshesia to get quite alot of dental work done about six years ago. It was scary, but he made it through with no problems and it beat going to the dentist several times to get the work done. Is there any way you can get a list of dentists from ods and call them to see if they work with kaiser? Can your dentist recommend anyone to you that does?
good luck hate having to deal with insurance.
There are excellent pediatric dentists. Called the ADA and they will refer you if you don't want to work with your normal dentist. The child does not normally need to be under to work on them. Find a pediatric dentist and trust that he/she will work miracles. The reason they do kids is because they are GOOD with kids. I believe that putting him under is much more tramatic then just going to the dentist. It is better the child know that they can go to the dentist without be put under and that it doesn't have to be a scary thing.
N.
wife, mom, grandma, dental hygienist
IF the dentist needs to do ALOT of work, then sometimes they will choose to knock the child out. My nephew (6yrs old) just had this done but he had something like 4-6 tetth pulled and some cavities filled. I know that my nephew wouldnt of sat still very long if they just numbed his mouth.
Yes you should see a pediatric dentist if possible. My daughter saw one when she was 3 when she fell and had trauma done to her front teeth, and it was a whole different experence. HE chose to do the work in his office and gave her laughing gas, but we did talk about putting her under and do it at the hospital. So it is an option.
OTher than that I dont know of anyone taht would take both of your insurances, I live in Corvallis. Please express your concern for knocking your child completely out. It is risky in little ones.
My son had to have dental work done under IV anesthesia when was 2 and the pediatric dental office had an anesthesiologist come in. It was totally fine and my son did really well. I was able to speak with the anesthesiologist way before the appointment so I knew that the drugs he used were safe in a non-hospital environment. There are many many IV anesthesia drugs, some are safer than others and easier to "reverse". (Just as a side note, I hated to have to put him under but I understood why they wanted to. Also, we got the news from one pediatric dentist and after talking with the anesthesiologist she used I just about came unglued. It was totally not okay with me the way they handled things so I shopped around and found the dentist we use now, with the better anesthesiologist. So don't hesitate to get a second opinion I say. Any doc/dentist who gets offended doesn't need to be your doc/dentist. I am sorry about the cost though. My dental insurance didn't cover much of the anesthesia cost either, but if we had gone the hospital route then our wait went from 2 to 6 months to 1 year at least. I doubt your situation would require a wait that long for the hospital but my son needed to have surgery not wait a year or more, so we just paid the anesthesiologist.
Good Luck!
S.
I have had dental work done that way for both of my kids (though they were 3 at the time) and it worked like a charm. All of the fillings done are still holding and we haven't had a single cavity since then (4 and 2 years later). For us it was done in out-patient surgery at Kaiser (Interstate office) but we also have Kaiser Dental so I am not sure how ODS and Kaiser would work together. I would say if she ever switched over to Kaiser Dental I would highly recommend Dr. Stafford as a pediatric dentist!!
I would get a second opinion from a pediatric dentist. It doesn't sound like he should have to be knocked out for that--and you definitely have to consider the risks. I know several people who rave about Kristin Badger in the Hollywood neighborhood. My daughter goes to Dr. Noel Larsen in an office right by the Hollywood Fred Meyer and they've been pretty good there. She did suggest some extractions (because of space reasons with her big teeth growing in), but we opted not to do that. So ask around. Your whole problem could disappear if you find a dentist that will do the work in-office with local anesthesia and maybe some laughing gas.
I'm not sure why the dentist wants to put the child completely under. Unless there are some other extenuating circumstances it shouldn't be needed. If there are other circumstances it might fall under the medical coverage and Kaiser might pay for the anesthesia. I remember having 2 teeth pulled and a few cavities filled at that age and it was done with local anesthesia only. I agree that a second opinion might be worth it....
Good luck.
