Is the Dentist ever a fun experience?

I have been putting off taking AAP to the dentist for the first time for a long time now. I keep saying, "When we get dental insurance I will take her." Well, now that she is 6 I figured it is time; even without dental insurance. I was in no way prepared for what would happen. AAP is very apprehensive when it comes to going to the doctor, so I had no idea how the dentist would go. She was nervous and cried at first, but the dental assistant, Karla, did a great job! I took her to a pediatric dentist and boy am I glad I did. Everything in the office was made to help the kids feel comfortable. Karla introduced AAP to her spaceship chair and then introduced all of her helpers. There was Mr. Chipmunk who would polish her teeth, the monkey mirror, Mr. Slurpy who she "kisses" and sucks up her spit, squirty who sprays her teeth with water and air, and the hollywood sunglasses. With all of this we made it through the cleaning and AAP did great! She was brave and even ended up having a good time. But, the hard part was on me. After they took the xrays and some digital photos of her teeth the Dr. and I spoke while the kids went with Karla to play. He had the digital photos of her teeth up on his computer and I could see the cavity before he even showed it to me. "Is that what I think it is," I asked right away. Yep! Not only was there that one, but get this...six more. Yes, you read right...7 total cavities. So, this made me feel like a bad mom. He said she had so many from a variety of things. Lack of brushing well, waiting a while to come in, and genetics. He said he saw a child who drank six sodas a day and ate candy all the time and had zero cavities. Knowing that she eats way better than that and hardly ever has soda makes me feel better. The treatment options is where I got a little overwhelmed and had to sit down. Whew!
Option 1:
Sedate her in the office with a drinkable medicine that makes her fall asleep so they can work on her. However, she has to be left in the room without me in there...which if you know her could be very tricky. She is a mama's girl! The catch to this option is he can only do half of the work at a time. So, she would have to go in twice. His fear is that she won't want to come back after the first time...even though she shouldn't remember much.
Option 2:
Have the procedure done at the hospital. This is where I take a big gulp, start to sweat, and take a seat. I was thinking...You have to take my baby to the hospital, give her an IV, put her to sleep with anesthesia, and fix her teeth?! Ok, that might just bring back the anxiety attacks! However, he felt this was the best option. You get all of the work done at once, she won't remember a thing, and hopefully she won't fear going to the dentist. Right...we will see if that happens.
As of now, we aren't sure which option we are going to go with because like I said earlier we don't have dental insurance. This is going to be a pretty pricey procedure. There goes my kitchen renovation. :) The thought of sending her into surgery makes my stomach churn! Who would have thought all of this could come out of a dental visit. AKP has her first visit in two weeks; what kind of news could that bring?