It's entirely possible that the mom has dentist-phobia as well and may empathize too much with her daughter and just CAN'T go through with forcing her daughter. Depending on the age, maybe they can offer something more than nitrous (is that the laughing gas? It did NOTHING for my 6-yr-old son), like a twilight sleep...even if she has to be sent to another practice. From the parent's perspective, the mom should do whatever she can to make her daughter feel safe and get the teeth fixed. From a professional perspective, there isn't a whole lot you CAN do, since you can't force the treatment on them. I don't think the dentist should charge for this visit specifically, after all the patient did show up but obviously couldn't handle it. But I do think he should charge for no-shows in general (with a proper policy in place, of course).
I wish we could tie her down....literally. lol. but, unfortunately, we don't have the kid sedation drink thing or a papoose board. My doc generally doesn't see that many kids since his practice is so expensive. :/
I feel, as both a health care professional and a mom, that parents need to instill in their children that injections or medical procedures might hurt for a little while--and not sugar coat it, come right out and say that they hurt and for about how long--but their benefits out weigh the small amount of pain or discomfort they cause
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I feel, as both a health care professional and a mom, that parents need to instill in their children that injections or medical procedures might hurt for a little while--and not sugar coat it, come right out and say that they hurt and for about how long--but their benefits out weigh the small amount of pain or discomfort they cause.
As a parent of a child with chronic medical issues, I seriously concur with this!
However, you'd be amazed at how hard it is to get the information out of doctors exactly what is going to happen, even pediatric doctors. The proper answer to, "What will you be doing? Please be specific so I can prepare him." isn't "Allergy testing.", it's "We have a round device with six points, we'll dip that into the allergen and then press that into the skin. We'll do this six times. He'll wait for twenty minutes in the waiting room and we'll see what the results are. Then, for each allergen he reacted to we'll take a tiny bit of the allergen in a hypodermic needle and inject it under the skin on the other forearm -
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My daughter had to have fillings when she was four, and we (me, her dad, the dentist, etc) were all absolutely SHOCKED that she did so amazingly well. Every other kid I know who had fillings at that age had to be sedated entirely.
I wouldn't make my kid sit through something like that if she was terrified (she used to be terrified of doctors, so BTDT), but as a parent, I would have tried to calm her down for awhile and would have expected to pay for the dentists' time if we left without treatment.
I don't think there's anything the dentists could do -- if they were friendly, explained all the equipment in a goofy kid way (like the sucker is "Mr. Thirsty" at our dentist's office) and the kid didn't calm down, there's not a lot anyone can do. They absolutely could and should have billed for their time, though.
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You can refuse to treat a patient that has a habit of not showing up or changing their minds in the middle of a visit.
She should be charged. He's a sweet man for not charging her.
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if not, then id tie the bitch down.
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As a parent of a child with chronic medical issues, I seriously concur with this!
However, you'd be amazed at how hard it is to get the information out of doctors exactly what is going to happen, even pediatric doctors. The proper answer to, "What will you be doing? Please be specific so I can prepare him." isn't "Allergy testing.", it's "We have a round device with six points, we'll dip that into the allergen and then press that into the skin. We'll do this six times. He'll wait for twenty minutes in the waiting room and we'll see what the results are. Then, for each allergen he reacted to we'll take a tiny bit of the allergen in a hypodermic needle and inject it under the skin on the other forearm - ( ... )
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My daughter had to have fillings when she was four, and we (me, her dad, the dentist, etc) were all absolutely SHOCKED that she did so amazingly well. Every other kid I know who had fillings at that age had to be sedated entirely.
I wouldn't make my kid sit through something like that if she was terrified (she used to be terrified of doctors, so BTDT), but as a parent, I would have tried to calm her down for awhile and would have expected to pay for the dentists' time if we left without treatment.
I don't think there's anything the dentists could do -- if they were friendly, explained all the equipment in a goofy kid way (like the sucker is "Mr. Thirsty" at our dentist's office) and the kid didn't calm down, there's not a lot anyone can do. They absolutely could and should have billed for their time, though.
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