Raising Eli & Zachary + a little Princess

Ok, let me start off by saying that I have offiicially fired Dr. Miller, child dentist located at:
285 Sills Rd, East Patchogue, NY 11772-4856.

Why might you ask? Because although he might have 30 years of experience with being a dentist, he clearly has been doing it too long. Today was Eli’s second attempt to get a bad cavity filled, the first I did not attend, instead Jodi took him and they could not get the mask on his face. Dr. Miller, fearing that Eli would have a bad experience and “fear” dentists made the decision to abort the visit. He believed at the time, that putting off the cavity filling was better than letting the cavity get worse, a decision I didn’t support then and questioned.

This time, Eli was in the waiting room, and Dr. Miller instantly declared that it was never going to happen. His 30+ years of experience told him that Eli would never let the procedure take place. I told Dr. Miller that he needed to try. Eli took to the gas mask with ease this time, and as Dr. Miller was trying to explain to me his fundamental beliefs in dentistry, which I couldnt give a shit about, he ignored Eli and stopped communicating with him. He told Eli all of a sudden that he was going to put some cream next to his tooth and proceeded to use his fingers to force Eli’s mouth wider which Eli was not anticipating. Too wide if you ask me and Eli started to whimper and cry. Immediately Dr. Miller called off the proceedure and said, I told you it was never going to happen.

In the first episode, Dr. Miller took away the mask Eli was holding which set Eli off, he wanted to hold it and it made him comfortable. Anyone with any experience would know to not disturb or rip away something that was making him feel comfortable in fear of a bad reaction. For someone who claims to be a child psychologist he has a lot to learn. In this second episode, he should have said, Eli, I need to to be brave, be very still so I can touch your tooth. I believe that if he would have approached the proceedure with a positive attitude and coached Eli through the filling of the cavity all would have been fine. But I guess it is easier to charge someones insurance company again for an office visit knowing they can just try it again in two weeks.

After calling off the filling, he offered to knock Eli out, and do all the work at one time (at a cost of $1500). How convenient that such a non-insurance covered proccedure be pushed after failing to try the regular way.

I ask you, how do you think a child is going to respond to a dentist who puts a needle in his arm at a visit? Do you think that Eli is going to sit down and let you stick a needle in his arm without crying? Maybe the idea is get the needle in him, charge me $1500 and then say, sorry your kid cried again so we are calling it off.

I can’t support Dr. Miller in his approach with my son. He might be great with regular kids, but Eli being PDD NOS makes him a special case. He does not understand how to take the extra step to comfort a child and has no patience.

Today was a horrible experience, I hope that if you are a parent and you are doing research on Dr. Miller on Sills Road in Medford that you consider using another dentist. For a guy with such a good reputation I have to say that in five office visits, the first two just to get Eli Comfortable I have wasted more money and time than acceptable. With two full dental insurance plans I have already used all my visits for six months, which means now that I am switching to someone new I have to pay everything out of pocket.

Oh, and if all of this does not convince you, I leave you with this. Dr. Miller said, come back in two weeks and we will continue to keep the tooth from decaying like we have been. My answer to him was simple, in all of these visits you have not actually done any treatment to the tooth. So how are you preventing the further decay. He answered, “By looking at it”.

The miracle dentist who can stop decay by looking at the tooth…wow…I am inspired. Time to retire Dr. Miller.

Update: I was putting Eli down for a nap, he asked me, why did Dr. Miller hurt me? I asked how and Eli’s response, he pulled right here really hard (and showed me him hooking his lower lip and yanking it down. I asked Eli if that is why he cried and he said yes. Suddenly it all makes more sense.

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Before the blog was attacked I was doing a series of posts regarding how difficult it is to build a great relationship between the dentist office and your toddler. Fear of the dentist has controlled my life forever, and it was not until about two years ago that the fear stopped, so I know how hard it can be.

The stage has been set: Tomorrow is attempt #2 at my sons cavity filled. Tomorrow, I will take him, instead of mommy taking him and sit him in the chair and encourage him to let the dentist do their job. Tomorrow, the battle over the silly gas begins anew. In the past attempt, Eli would gladly hold the mask but as soon as the dentist took it from him, he flipped out.

This time we do it my way. Eli will have his own mask to play with, I will have a mask to play with and the doctor will use a mask on him. Once he gets the sleepy gas, I know all will be good. The magic gas solves all problems (and might create the throw up in my new car problem).

I will bring toys, promises to visit the music store, maybe even buy him a tuba if it gets him to sit still and let the guy do his thing. Wish me luck, because as all parents know, getting your kid to the dentist and out alive is a hard thing to do.

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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