For kids: How Common Is General Anesthesia For Dental Work??

amother

Tue, Aug 19 2014, 6:26 pm

I've heard from two people who have done it because their kids tantrum badly.

My son needs a few fillings and a root canal but he is so afraid and kicks and screams!

Should I opt for general anesthesia?

If it would've been only one visit I would never do it but since there is too much work involved which requires several appointments and several numbing shots I am really tempted to do it under anesthesia.

Any of you did it?

debsey

Tue, Aug 19 2014, 6:30 pm

I've done it for a kid who can't tolerate the other way. He had a lot of cavities.
I was nervous about it, but it went without a hitch.
Dr. Winokur in Lakewood advises it for kids with ADHD, anxieties, and kids younger than 5.
I still prefer the old fashioned method, but Dr. Winokur says that the risks of anasthesia are being balanced against the kid moving wrong and him hitting a nerve or something else.

prestige

Tue, Aug 19 2014, 10:23 pm

I would also like to know the diff of sedation and general anest. From what I understand sedation is done at the dental office and anesth. Is done in an operating room in hosp. But what are the risks? Is it safer? How does the child breath? Is there any choking risk?

My ds has 6 cavities, some of them are possible root canals. He does not cooperate, tantrums and doesn't even open his mouth. He is 6 and this is schlepping for two yrs already.

FranticFrummie

Wed, Aug 20 2014, 12:25 am

It's actually WAY more common than you'd think. Twilight sedation is considered safer than general anesthesia, and usually doesn't involve a hospital visit. The child may respond to questions or say something nonsensical, but will remember pretty much nothing after the procedure.

A friend of mine had liposuction done under twilight sedation. According to the nurse my friend talked all the way through the procedure, and was quite funny! My friend swears that all she remembers is falling asleep, and waking up a few seconds later feeling a bit sore.

kollel wife

Wed, Aug 20 2014, 9:50 am

I have it done with a young child who had many cavities and pulpotomies (childs root canal, probably I misspelled). I think she was 3 1/2. I had never brought her to the dentist yet, and then she had many cavities.

We did it with Dr Winokaur. Very long wait for one appointment in his office, (2 hours maybe) but then he just glanced at her mouth and looked at the X rays and we scheduled the appointment. It went smoothly. It was done in the hospital. One difficulty, child could not eat or drink from the morning and schedule is up in the air in the hospital, you can wait hours and have to distract/keep busy the child without eating/drinking perhaps until 1:00 pm.

She was given ices/soda things like that afterwards, some crayons and prizes too and didn't have pain either at all that I recall. Maybe couldn't eat so much that evening or only soft foods.

vintagebknyc

Wed, Aug 20 2014, 9:58 am

prestige wrote:

''

we're talking general anesthesia, in hosp with anesthesiologist, where a breathing tube is inserted?

or twilight at the hospital with an anesthesiologist? (ie, conscious sedation)

two VERY different procedures.

amother

Wed, Nov 19 2014, 7:33 am

have an apt schedule for friday for my 5 year old son for General Anaesthesia, he needs to get 8 root canals done plus some more work on the rest of his teeth. he is on antibiotics since monday for strept. do you think they will make problems or go ahead with it???? cant afford to lose this apt cuz you can wait months. but on the other hand want it to be 100 percent safe.........

groisamomma

Wed, Nov 19 2014, 8:47 am

amother wrote:

I'm sorry but I HOPE you went for a second opinion. 8 root canals???? The only people I know that would allow that are people that don't pay out of pocket for dental costs. If it's free, why not?

BTW Debsey, Dr. Winokur is the first dentist to put a child under so I'm not sure people will want to take his word for it.

Use a pediatric dentist that will give the child laughing gas. It makes them woozy (happy, really) without knocking them out completely.

amother

Wed, Nov 19 2014, 8:48 am

my mother owned a pediatric practice which would not use laughing gas, conscious sedation or general anesthesia. for children with special needs or other reasons that made it impossible to work others, she referred to a special dentist who only worked with difficult children and did use general anesthesia, etc. last year I took 5 children to the dentist betw/ the ages of 5 and 13 who needed a lot of work. it involved over 40 appointments. 4 of the 5 children are very anxious and 2 of them have had panic attacks in the past. they were so well behaved at the dentist. the 8 yr old required 3 adult root canals (not baby pulp treatment) and he did wonderfully baruch Hashem. we worked with them, and while we didn't send them to a therapist, we worked with a professional therapist to learn techniques to help them feel good, secure, and safe at the dentist. if my child was too scared to behave at the dentist I would definitely reach out to a child psychologist not because of not wanting to use general anesthesia but because I would want to help teach my children healthy coping tools, positive attitudes, and give them the feeling of overcoming something that they are afraid of. the truth is that most children can behave at a dentist and if a child cannot there is a reason why. sometimes that is intellectual, behavioral, emotional, physical, etc. and I believe that it is valuable to look into it to understand why and see if it is something that can be addressed.

the point of this post is so that parents who are uncomfortable with general anesthesia should know that there are other options. those options may take a lot of time, cost more money, and not yield immediate results, but that is your choice to weigh the pros and cons. it's not abusive or wrong to use general anesthesia and there are times when it is the only choice, but there are other things to consider as well.

amother

Wed, Nov 19 2014, 8:49 am

groisamomma wrote:

a 5 yr old cannot have 8 root canals. she is referring to a "baby root canal" aka pulp treatment. its common with baby bottle decay but can happen for other reasons. medicaid also like to push them because it is cheaper than working with a tooth for years to save it - that's also why they advocate pulling teeth. I remember when I took some kids a cash dentist he could not believe that they had a tooth pulled and a baby root canal. he thought that it was absurd. sometimes there is no choice though but its worth a second opinion.