Poor Little Man

I've failed him...he's only 7, but already he has a lifetime of bad dental habits. Hubby and I always assumed that when we sent the kids to get ready for bed and told them to brush their teeth, that was what they did...I mean, it's a habit right...

Well, Little Man avoided the whole brushing thing unless we were standing right there...I should have been standing right there...

He has to have crowns now. He came to us with a toothache that turned out to be a cavity of course. We took him to the dentist, who actually found 4 cavities in 8 teeth. All of his premolars are decaying to some degree or another because the cavities took root in between the teeth. So he has to have his teeth drilled and filed and crowned...and he's only 7. The other 2 kids have no cavities at all, so I guess we assumed that they were all taking care of their teeth the way they should...

So the dentist sent us to a pedodontist (orthodontist specializing in little ones). The pedodontist wants to do the cavities in quadrants, or if Little Man is too squirmy, put him under and do the whole thing in one shot while he sleeps. Our insurance only covers half...and that's if he doesn't have to have the general anesthesia, in that case the anesthesia and related expense isn't covered at all. I'd like to say that the money isn't an issue at all, but of course that would be a lie. It's not a problem, we'll come up with it somehow...but it does matter. It also makes me think about all those folks who wouldn't be able to come up with it in any case...it's no wonder health care is such a problem. Still, if I had done a better job of mothering/monitoring, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. I failed...and I feel like shit about it, but that doesn't repair the child's teeth...