Dentist - possible sedation

My 13 yr-old has had sedation once before for an extraction, and is due to have another tomorrow, as his milk teeth are impacted.  Both through NHS, albeit a different, specialised practice.

I put EMLA cream (over the counter £5) on the back of his hands an hour before, to numb them in prep for the canula.  I am allowed to stay with him for the sedation, but not during the procedure.  The sedation is performed by an anaesthetist, the dentistry by a dentist.  The sedation has the effect of making the patient "dreamy" and very relaxed but still conscious.  The patient will remember very little - if anything - afterwards.  It is not the same as a general anaesthetic.

The patient is moved to a simple recovery bed afterwards where parents rejoin them and a nurse oversees. Some patients vomit afterwards - my son is one of those.  After about 30 mins, and on the say-so of the nurse, they are free to leave.  You need to be with them for the whole of the rest of day, and certainly no school that afternoon. 

Next day all back to normal. 

I know this reply is rather later than the original question, but it may help someone else :)

I have problems with Dentist, as a child I avoided it after a bad experience, where the school dentist had gouged into the side of my cheek. From 18 I made a point of visiting every year, later to six months. It took a long time for me to be comfortable with a dentist, he had a manner that was calming, and described what he was doing or about to do. I lost this dentist several years ago, because nhs contracts changed, and couldn't see him unless I signed up to den plan. I've have not been able to find a new dentist I am comfortable with, so haven't seen a dentist for a while

My experience as a child was that the dentist' visit was always painful. It is common for people with autism to be extra sensitive to pain and to be sensitive/squeamish about thinking about the needles and drills. I avoided the dentist for many years as it had become a real phobia but it was a phobia based on bad experience rather than irrational fear. I remember them putting in multiple injections as it seemed that I was hard to anaesthetise.

I wonder how "essential" this cleaning is?

I learnt, as a late teen that flossing and the use of electric toothbrushes are both recommended - it was a dentist friend that educated me. I have recently added a "water-pick" to my toolbox for preventing problems. The other change was to stop drinking sweetened tea or coffee and avoiding sweet fizzy pop. Another dentist identified muesli as an evil - the dried fruit sticks between teeth and is very sweet and sticky and hard to remove.

These measures have meant that I have survived 20 years between visits and the last visit revealed no cavities - I just needed an ancient filled tooth to be repaired.

:-)

As a first port of call can you ask the dentist for more information? E.g. exactly what sort of sedation s/he is proposing, what are the possible risks/effects/side-effects etc.  Also whether there are any alternatives and what the likely outcome would be if he did not have this treatment.  It would seem to me to be part of her job to have properly explained any procedure to you prior to obtaining your consent to treatment and I am sure s/he would be happy to do this (if s/he is not I would see that as a red flag and not want to go ahead with the treatment with that particular dentist).

Once you understand your options and the risks/benefits of each, I am sure it will be much easier to confidently make a decision in your son''s best interests.

Hi, can anyone help! Dylan is 12 and petrified of the dentist it takes me weeks to prepare him for a check up. The dreaded day has arrived where he really needs a scale & polish but there is absolutely no way he will let anything other than a mirror near his mouth. The dentist has suggested doing it with sedation privately as apparently it's not available on the NHS. I am mega stressed at the thought of the sedation as it wasn't explained any further. Has anyone else been through this and come out the other side in one piece and with a child with cleaner teeth?

Thanks

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My son (12) finds it so difficult to open his mouth for the dentist to check his teeth or to let her put any instruments in his mouth. She is worried about his teeth now and wants to give them a clean with her machinery. She has suggested sedating him or giving some kind of anaesthetic on next visit but I am worried about this for lots of reasons. She is a very kind caring dentist but he still finds it distressing. Does anyone have experience of this?  Thanks.

Hi,  my son also 12 has what sounds like exactly the same issue any my dentist has just said the same. i notice this post was a while ago, I was just wondering how did you get on? I'm going to explore my options but I'm really worried at the moment!

Hi, what does she mean exactly by "sedation"?   My son's had sedation twice because of needles.  The 1st time was for a big filling, the 2nd for an extraction.  They give "happy air" thru a face mask, which is relaxing as long as he isn't scared of the mask.  Then they can put the canula into the back of the hand after putting some desensitising spray  on 1st.  This shd ensure he is asleep whilst the procedure is being done for something such as a filling or extraction.  However, I don't know what they do is it's purely for cleaning.  Some dental practices have info on this on their website so see it it's the case with your dentist.  Not all practices do what I'd call "specialist sedation".  I'd also ask how experienced she is with sedating autistic people.  There are specialist dentists who are contracted by your clinical commissioning group to provide this service.  Check out who yours is if you feel it necessary.  My son had his filling with a ccg contracted practice + they were excellent.  He had his extraction with a practice who won the contract later on.  They were ok.  Good luck