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, 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 
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
