POW Dental experiences?

I don't know what to tell you about POW but I am surprised to hear your prior dentist told you to "keep an eye on" a cavity.  They don't go away (and as you say, they aren't really visible to the untrained eye) so I'm sure what that was about.  As I understand it, cavities, when they appear, need to be filled. 

Obviously can't give advice on your daughter's specific teeth, but I take my two kids to POW now after a few very unsatisfactory years with Dr Nick (formerly Dr Ed) in El Cerrito, where I felt among other things they were very interventionist on a potential problem (not a cavity) on a 3 year old. We've been happy at POW with both the dentists there, although I always feel kind of "ugh" since - as you allude to - if you're not a dentist yourself it's hard to know what's really going on! I guess in short answer to your question, we ended up transferring to POW after going there for a second opinion from Dr Nick (also went once to Aloha for a second opinion, wow were they expensive) and my perception is they are better in terms of not being so aggressive about treatment - again, cavities are one thing and this particular example for my kid was different (trauma to tooth after a fall). We have since had a couple cavities filled there on one kid, the other one has skated so far. Anyway, hope it helps.

I've had a lot of dentists in the past propose more than I wanted to do. I now go to Dr. Mizono in Albany, who is great. When I told him my past experiences he said that it's really pretty subjective, and that he takes a conservative approach. 

I don't have specific advice about POW, but I had a similar experience with a new dentist practice in another state. I went to this new dentist, who told me I had 3-4 cavities, but I called my previous dentist (whom I had seen less than a year previously) and he told me that he didn't see any indication of additional cavities forming. I went to a third dentist, whose observations were in line with my previous dentist. Needless to say, I never went back to that second dentist. I would recommend getting a second opinion.

I have only taken my kids to pow once but it was a great experience and they didn't recommend any interventions. My daughter has a dead front tooth from a fall and they recommended just monitoring it unless it becomes an issue. Hope that helps!

We have taken our two children there for the last 2 years and have had a good experience. Neither has had a cavity, but one had an unfortunate accident that damaged 4 teeth and they took a watchful waiting non-interventionist approach. 

Hi all-- I just wanted to update this original query with a big THANK YOU to all of you in this thread.  These responses have all been very helpful in getting a broad sense of POW experiences (and dental experiences generally.)  BPN, as usual, is a fantastic resource to us as we get settled here.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply!

Liz

Hi there,

I took my daughter to POW until a year ago. They were nice if you agree to whatever they told you to do. I refused to have my daughter get x ray every 6 months. I agreed with the first one because they told me they wanted to see her adult teeth to make sure everything ok. She was 4 1/2. Her pediatrician was not  sure about it, tbut then I told her that the detist said it was ok for her to get x ray that young.  Then on the next appointment, they wanted to take another x ray. I refused, because I dont think it was necessary. The doctor was upset, and it was very obvious. She also didnt have much patience with my daughter who was scared (some people are just scared of dentist!). After that I simply take her to Solano Smile for her check up.