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Dental Trauma and "Adjustment Disorder"

NAS83709

Anyone with experience of recovery from dental extractions and general anaesthetic in adults??

We have a 31yr old severely autistic son who has refused dental treatment for years despite 50 hours+ of "desensitisation" from our local psychologist team and multiple attempts to cajole/persuade him to enter the hospital supported by our "multi-disciplinary team" over the past 7 years.

We finally (after presenting him as an emergency 12 months ago) have a date booked for "the procedure".

"The procedure" involves pre-med in the home environment supervised by an anaesthetist, car trip to hospital, at least 6 tooth extractions including 4 wisdom teeth, a trip to the recovery ward and a blue-light ambulance trip home followed by some form of short-term monitoring/nursing care.

All of this has to be done without giving "the patient" any advance warning and so is being "bought off" by the Court of Protection.

We are , of course, expecting severe recovery problems, his reaction is likely to be extreme but he desperately needs the treatment.

Does anyone out there have experience of handling a case like this? What strategies should we use? What help should we expect from NHS and Social services? etc ?

Thanks for any helpful suggestions.

PT and AT

Parents

  • Hi, all I can say is to be really careful in what you are doing. I’m in my 50’s and from a result of treatment as a child, have had PTSD ever since, with flashbacks everyday. I had a meltdown when I sat in the dentists chair, I was to have 6 teeth removed, I bit one of the dentists and tried to climb out of a window. Four adults held me down and forcibly administered gas anaesthetic. I ended up in hospital for a week with severe dehydration from a severe shutdown. Obviously you have your sons welfare at heart, my personal thoughts are that he will never trust you again, from not knowing it was going to happen, if it was me,  I would spend everyday wondering if it was going to happen in that day again. He will have a mouth full of stitches, the sensory issues from that alone can be hell. Apologies if I sound blunt.

  • in reply to Roy

    Hi, his present phobia results largely from an experience like yours 15 years ago (forcibly anesthetised)  and we strongly suspect that he will indeed never trust us again (and indeed he will probably never fully recover from the trauma) if we allow this to go ahead.

    The question is ... What should we do about his teeth? 

    Is it better to let him approach middle-age with a mouth full of decayed molars ?

    We just don't know.

    PT and AT

Reply
  • in reply to Roy

    Hi, his present phobia results largely from an experience like yours 15 years ago (forcibly anesthetised)  and we strongly suspect that he will indeed never trust us again (and indeed he will probably never fully recover from the trauma) if we allow this to go ahead.

    The question is ... What should we do about his teeth? 

    Is it better to let him approach middle-age with a mouth full of decayed molars ?

    We just don't know.

    PT and AT

Children
  • in reply to NAS83709

    The real problem is physical v mental health. Teeth can be a serious medical issue.

    I don't envy you. Neglect his teeth and his physical health will suffer. Treat his teeth and the damage to his mental health will be as serious.

    It's Hobson's choice and as much as we are feeling it with you, none of us can mitigate that or give you better hope.

    The best you can do is MAKE the team understand this.

    But most of all, for yourselves, know whatever you do, you do out of love. You are dealt a hard hand and only doing your best. I'm I mum too and I've made some tough calls from a place of love. X