My 5 1/2 year old has her first cavity. She is petrified of getting a filling. I've taken her to her usual dentist 3 times and a pediatric dentist and the appointments end the same way. She shuts down and refuses to open her mouth. She has progressively tried new things at each appointment. Opened mouth for a bit, allowed dentist to use hand tools to check, allowed a clean of top teeth only and today they got to the stage of putting the cotton bud in. She freaked cause it tasted bad and she didn't like the splash of water that went down her throat when he used the water pipe thingy. She clamped up and wouldn't go any further.

My dilemma is.. Pediatric dentist wants to put her under general to fill and metallic cap/ crown that tooth. Plus some fissure seals and clean and X-rays. All of which will cost almost $3000 and a bucket load of anxiety for me!

Our usual dentist said it doesn't look like it will require a crown and he's happy to do the filling in the chair. However as she is being difficult due to fear he is happy to try again in 6 months when she's older and developmentally more able to deal with it.

Paediatric dentist said it needs to be done by December!!

What on earth do I do?