My wife and I are both TAMU employees and Dr. Light's office just stopped taking the TAMU dental plan. We were very happy with her but were using our insurance every year to keep the cost down.

SmileRight is the new pediatric dentist in town and my wife took the kids there yesterday for cleanings. Very different experience. Spartan, handful of office staff, and doctor is not listed on their website. It's definitely got the franchise feel. Everyone was friendly and courteous but it's definitely not set up to cater to kids like Dr. Light's office.

They are recommending a filling for my son and was just wondering if anyone has had a chance to have services other than cleanings done on their kids there, and what the experiences have been. Because they take TAMU insurance the out of pocket cost for the filling will be quite low.

On one hand, would like to use the insurance to handle the filling, but on the other hand, we don't have any relationship with the new dentist and considering going back to Dr. Light and paying out of pocket for the filling because we know she does such great work.

Any other reccs for dentists in town that see kids that still take TAMU dental insurance?

Thanks y'all!

Gig'em

We stuck with Light and it's not that she stopped taking insurance, she's just out of network with everyone.

So our insurance pays something, but it ends up being several hundred dollars out of pocket just for cleanings. It ends up being a couple bucks a day across the whole year, so not really a significant expense. But I'm not in love with it.

Thanks for clarifying, yes your'e right, out of network - apologies for mischaracterizing. Appreciate your quick reply!

How old is your child? Erickson takes Delta Dental and sees kids, but I'm not sure about the minimum age. Worth a phone call, though!

He's 13, thanks I'll give them a call!

Same thing happened to us with our dental insurance, call Dr Lights office and ask them what the out of pocket would be with your insurance for cleanings. IIRC ours was less than $20 a kid.

ETA: don't know about fillings, but I trust Dr Light more than some of these other pediatric outfits in town.

Naeger Wright is awesome if you're in network there

Pretty Brazos Valley Pediatric dentistry is in network, they do good work.

KidDoc said:

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Pretty Brazos Valley Pediatric dentistry is in network, they do good work.

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Our kids go there, wife seems to approve

Dr. Kristine Donnelly at Bryan Pediatric Dentistry (https://www.bryankidsteeth.com/) is good.

My kids and I preferred her to Dr. Light.

She is in Bryan though so depending where you live, she might be further away.

Also, I don't work for A&M, so I have no idea if she's in network with your insurance or not.

Also if you want someone in College Station who will see kids but isn't specifically a kids dentist, Williams Family Dentistry will see kids.

Serious question but do you really need a pediatric dentist for a 13 year old? My wife insisted we continue taking our daughter to Dr. Light after she went out of network which I begrudgingly accepted until a year or two later when I saw that we were practically paying full price for cleanings. We have since switched her to our own dentist (who I have been going to for almost 30 years) with no problems. I think she was about 13 or 14 when we made the switch.

Serious answer

I don't care where he gets his filling done, I'm just looking for someone that I (Dr. Light) or a community (this thread) trusts, who will do a good job, and ideally will work with TAMU insurance.

Just to be clear, I don't think a pediatric dentist is needed for a 13 year old, but many dentists don't see kids.