I had to have my boy sedated, yes, sedated for the xrays at that same age.
From my own experience, I expected to have dental work done on my kids so was on the lookout for any spot on their teeth. DS had a spot and in baby teeth decay grows quickly.
The ped dentist made us wait 6 weeks for the dental work and as a result, the estimate of caps and fillings got stepped up to extractions and caps. AND the boy had to be asleep for work to be done. At that time, just brushing his teeth at the back made him gag. Just having him open his mouth to look in, if I took too long, made him gag. It was kind of funny, actually.
So, if you are asking
my opinion, if you can get the work done with your regular dentist, then go that way BUT if you'll have to have the work done by a ped anyways, get the xrays done with them to start with.
and console yourself that your boy will be seeing the ped dentist for a limited time
because they are expensive and (in my city anyways) the wait times are long; just like any other specialist.
to answer your xray question. I let them be xrayed. Only because in my family, we do get cavities and tooth decay has been linked to health issues so I like to stay on top of that.
good luck!
btw, our ped dentist annoyed me last time when I brought my DD. She had two tiny weeny cavities to deal with. This dr splits up the mouth in quadrants and insisted on two separate appts to do one cavity each time. this meant valium drink for 5 minutes work. While he could have frozen both sides, done both teeth in the same time.
Next time, now that I know, I will talk to the dentist about that. To me it felt like his best interest was his pocket book. I'd rather drug the child up once. Especially considering how tiny the cavities were.
keep us posted
jm
me:43, DH 44
FSH 26
DS: born by c-sec Apr15'03, 9lbs5oz 41wks gest. (after 4 years of ttc, starting in 1998)
DD born by c-sec Oct 13 2007, 8lbs13oz 39wk gest. (after just under 3 years of ttc)
~~DS was conceived naturally the cycle following a cancelled DE IVF, using my good friend's eggs. She was on the verge of hyperstimming.
~~DD's nat conception I attribute to using OPKs like a crazy nut, eating grapefruit daily and using preseed. also 5 cycles of TCM ending 2 cycles before that lucky cycle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~