Don’t Trust Doctors Blindly! Here’s why?

Comforting and reassuring words of doctors are sometimes more powerful than medicines. But in my case it was different. If I were to follow the instructions of one doctor I recently consulted with, it would have been the worst thing ever I did in my life. Read on to know why?

Recently, my 2.8-year-old daughter got fever in the middle of a night. She had been pointing her finger to her cheek. But I didn’t understand what she was going through, so I gave her paracetamol syrup. She was fast asleep then.

She was absolutely normal the next day. Seeing her all happy with no fever, delayed my thought of taking her to the doctor. Again that night she got high fever and this time she was crying very badly pulling her checks out. When she did that I tried peeping in her mouth and I saw that her gums were swollen. She was way too cranky that night, it was impossible to handle her.

I was very panicked, took her to the dentist first as I thought maybe she is having a severe tooth ache. I explained what I saw in her mouth to the doctor, I told how she got fever all of a sudden and how she was pulling her cheeks. All this things rightly pointed out that she is having some problems in her teeth.

The doctor tried checking my daughter’s teeth. He asked her to open her mouth. This was her first time to the dentists clinic. After a lot of fake promises ( that I will buy you this and that, take you here and there etc) finally, she somehow managed to open her mouth and doc just had a glimpse of her teeth for few seconds.

Guess what happened next, he told me she has got a severe infection in her tooth which will require cleaning, as she is too small for this he said he will need Anaesthesia for this purpose ( I was literally shocked, thinking my daughter who is too small and has recently got her all 18 teeth, will undergo cleaning just for a single cavity?)

Something in my mind made me not to believe this doctor. She just missed brushing her teeth for a few days as we were holidaying. This problem couldn’t be this worse in a span of few days.

Well, he then gave me a letter to show it to the anaesthesiologist and asked me to take a date from them, he said he would come accordingly to the same and will perform cleaning of her tooth. I was ok as long as it was cleaning but anaesthesia was something scary.

I went to the anaesthesiologist and she told me to go ahead with blood and urine test of my daughter (imagine just a tooth ache can make things so worse), She told me the procedure would need General anaesthesia and not local anaesthesia. So that means my daughter will be sleeping for hours.

Like any other concerned mother, I wanted to be sure if anaesthesia is safe for kids and what were the risks involved. I asked if it would be risky, the person at the testing centre asked me not to worry, the baby will be alright within few hours. I was more comfortable by then.

I thought it’s better to do it, as I couldn’t see my daughter in pain especially at night it was a scary situation. I confirmed with the anaesthesiologist asking her if it is just a tooth cleaning , she said no it’s not it is a root canal process, dentist has mentioned the same in the letter she said.

Shocked I was, I read the letter again and it was written that he will perform root canal on my daughter’s lil molar tooth.

I left the clinic. I was almost teary eyed. I was not worrying about root canal but anaesthesia was something hurting me very badly. I read about many incidents. My daughter is my angel, I couldn’t risk her life for a simple tooth ache.

After reaching home I did a thorough research, spoke to many doctors over the phone, most of them after listening to my problem told me that if the dentist has asked for root canal than it is better to do it as soon as possible without further delay. Few of them told me to consult paediatric dentist, he or she will check properly and confirm if it is really necessary or can be delayed for the moment.

Fine, I was very much in stress for atleast two days, sleepless nights for 3 of us (me because of stress, daughter because of tooth ache, and hubby, who is currently out of the country)

Next day, was a challenging day for me as I had decided that I would consult as many doctors as possible but I will somehow by Gods help would avoid this situation.

I consulted one more doctor who is very much known in the  city and is a paediatric dentist. I took an appointed there, went to meet her. As it was paediatric dentist’s clinic my daughter had a good time there because she got to play with balloons, they offered some stickers and they also played her favourite cartoon on the tab. All because they wanted to divert her attention. They were very successful in doing so.

Dentist then asked my daughter to do big aaaaa and my baby followed her instructions slowly, she then inserted one instrument and checked for any cavities and everything.

Finally she came to a conclusion saying my daughter is absolutely fine and has no cavity, she is simply getting a new molar tooth and the eruption is causing her the pain and nothing else.

I was like what? I confirmed this again with her asking are you sure? She said of course. I told her about the situation I faced few days ago and what if I followed the instructions of that dentist and opted for root canal. I wonder what that dentist must have done to my daughters small lil teeth? Why would some want to simply experiment things that too on small kids? He didn’t even diagnosed my daughters teeth properly and came to a conclusion for a root canal.

If he was unsure, he could have atleast called me again for a re-check.

I have learnt a big lesson that you should never ever depend on one single doctor, instead consult other doctors as well, take their opinions and finally do what is needed.

I would have really risked my baby’s life. I feel I took a smart decision by consulting another doctor over the phone as well as in-person.

And now by Gods grace my daughter is absolutely fine she has swollen gums as she is getting her second molar tooth which generally erupts in the age group of 2 to 3 years.

Thanks for reading.

Don’t forget to share my story and please be alert next time.

Note:

I can’t disclose the name of the dentist here, but I’ll make sure nobody goes to him again specially with their kids. I will definitely complain about this matter to the state medical council if needed.

If you have any suggestions on how I can take this matter to the top management of dental faculty please leave a comment.