Children sedated for dental procedures...should i allow my child's pediatric dentist to hospitalize my child?

Children sedated for dental procedures...should i allow my child's pediatric dentist to hospitalize my child?


giving my child gas and putting my child under terrifies me. i want her to be healthy and have great teeth but is it necessary to do this while my child is so young? my child is 7. Do any of you have any experiences with this? my child will not cooperate with the dentist because my child is scared. Could i wait til my child is a little older and more cooperative? putting even an adult under is dangerous. what do you know?


3 hours ago - 1 week left to answer.


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55 minutes ago





the sedation will not be laughing gas. my child will be completely under. he wants to fill a few teeth and clean them. he wont touch my child otherwise because of her phobia. this is the second pediatric dentist i have taken her to. though he is nice...neither have a lot of patience...they are always in a hurry.

Children sedated for dental procedures...should i allow my child's pediatric dentist to hospitalize my child?
I don't know that I would let them put a young child under general anesthesia like that. Any time a person is put to sleep there are serious risks involved. It almost seems to me that your child's dentist would rather take the easy way out, put your child to sleep, and get their work done, all the while, racking up a larger bill for you or your insurance.





If you ask me, the dentist should concentrate more on trying to show your daughter that he is not a scary, mean person, and that he is not going to hurt her... a little effort goes a long way with children. Right now I think anesthesia is a little too drastic. If she doesn't respond to him trying to calm her fears, THEN maybe anesthesia should be tried... as a last resort.





Hope this helps. :-)
Reply:if she needs it then she needs it. General anesthia is not as bad as you make it. She will be in and out without pain or being scared.
Reply:I'm an anesthesiologist. I would feel more comfortable with a child under general anesthesia monitored by an anesthesiologist rather than the child being sedated with nitrous oxide (laughing gas) in the dentists office. You want to have person dedicated to doing nothing but monitoring the child during the surgery and being able to handle the patient's breathing and other vital signs. I do not recommend waiting till the child is older. They will not necessarily be safer and the teeth won't getting any better during that time. There are risks and benefits to anesthesia, but I take exception with you assertion that putting an adult under anesthesia is dangerous. Do you believe it is dangerous to drive a car? Although the risk of death is present every time you get behind the wheel, the fact is most people who drive don't die as a result. Similarly, most people who go under anesthesia don't die from it. Realize that premature babies and infants require anesthesia for surgical procedures. A 7 year old is a relative giant and technically much easier for an anesthesia provider to care for than children who are years younger. In all likelihood, your child would not be hospitalized for the procedure but done on an outpatient basis, going home the same day.





Good luck.
Reply:The sedation your dentist is recommending isn't that hazardous, really. And I hate to say this, but her teeth obviously aren't in great shape, because you say he needs to do some fillings and clean them. The longer you delay in her getting adequate dental treatment, the more likely it is her phobia will get worse. At some point, the teeth will absolutely require attention, and you will have a petrified older child that will need some radical treatment guarenteed to be more painful and miserable. That won't help her learn to love the dentist. This way, she drifts off to sleep, feels no pain beyond the brief needle stick for the IV, and wakes up feeling fine. Then dental treatment can be done on a slower basis, and won't have to involve any discomfort at all. She won't associate pain with the dentist, and you can work with her to eliminate the fear. The trouble with having a child so fearful that you absolutely can't work on them while they are awake is that the experience just reinforces it all. The fits to avoid treatment work, and she is able to avoid having treatment. Since they work, she has no reason to change anything. You have my sympathies, I have six of my own. It's not ever easy to force your child to do anything you know they are afraid of, or dread. But sometimes, you just have to push the issue. It's a sure thing matters in her mouth are not going to get better if you wait, and the work she will need in time is only going to be even more unpleasant. So as much as it unnerves you to do this, it's probably the best thing to do. She won't be traumatized by the treatment, because she will be asleep and have no memory of it. The treatment will only take a short time, because nobody will have to fight with her. You won't be the bad guy for letting them fight her either. At this point, you will just have to put it to her firmly- that this is the way it's going to be. Assure her it won't hurt, and try to keep your nerves solid at least where she can see you. But stand firm and say this is best for her. Afterwards, you can always go for a treat, get a prize for doing her part. Associate it all with something pleasant, and remind her it wasn't so bad after all. You can do this, mom. I've done it, not easy, no. But you can do it too.
Reply:I use to work in a dental office and we never put kids under unless we absolutely had to. If a child is extremely terrified and will not cooperate it is for their safety that they either be held still or put under. If the child is to jerk their head or to go to grab the dentists hand while they are working in the mouth, there could be serious damage done. The handpieces that are used to remove decay spin at a very high speed and the tools on them to remove the decay are VERY sharp. If you wait to have her dental work done the cavities can become larger and infected. The infection can spread to other parts of the body. Especially in children and the elderly. These infections have been known to kill people. Also, the decay can spread to any permanent teeth that haven't fully erupted.





I will tell you that when a child is put under they are constantly monitered by a dental assistant. As a dental assistant you trained in CPR and in how to handle a situation should a problem arise.





My daughter is 5 and had a cavity filled a year ago with just a local injection. She was very nervous and I chose not to be in the room with her while the procedure was done. While working in the dental office I have found that children do much better when a parent is not in the room. I don't know why or understand why that is, but I saw it with my own eyes all the time the difference it made in a child's behavior for the parent to step out of the room.





If you aren't comfortable with the dentist then you should definitely find another one. However, I will say that it does get very stressful dealing with children that refuse to cooperate. We understand a child's fears and phobias and any good dentist and his assistant should do everything in their power to comfort the child and relieve their stress. However, there are cases where children will not cooperate and its very frustrating because we know how much the work needs to be done.





I would just sit down with your child and explain everything to them beforehand and explain to them what has to happen if they don't cooperate. Meaning being put to sleep for procedures and honestly tell her what the risks of that are. I think you would be surprised how much she will understand.





While I was assisting, I know I tried everything I could think of to relax a child. I sang silly songs while I cleaned their teeth and took their xrays. If the doctor was giving an injection in the mouth I would talk to them so they would be paying attention to what I was doing and not the doctor and then right when the doctor would give the injection I would always hold the childs hand and give them a little squeeze or a little pinch to take their mind off of it. Not anything that would hurt, but something that took their focus to what I was doing. The child would always say afterwards hey you pinched me and the doctor would apologize and the child would tell her not you, and then point at me and say she did. It worked everytime.





I hope this helps you somehow. Good luck!
Reply:I would let them go through with it .. Your child needs her teeth sorted so that she wont have anny bad pain ..





It should only be a day procedure (( If there Sedated in anny way at a hospital you usualy have to go to a childs ward for a few hours )) then if everything is ok you get sent home








Good Luckx