Anyone with experience of dental surgery - reassurance for DS?

[littlegreybird]

Ds (13) has to have baby teeth removed tomorrow under a general anesthetic. He's understandably nervous, as am I, though I obviously haven't told him that! We've had a look online at some further info on what to expect but just wondered if anyone here had any words of wisdom or experiences that might help.

I saw some stats somewhere that quoted 1 in 100 000 as the complication rate for use of GA and I must say I thought it wold be lower than that and it's freaked me out a bit. Of course I've said nothing whatsoever about complications to ds but this is playing on my mind now and making me increasingly nervous. He just doesn't like the idea of being put to sleep.

Any help would be great.

It's forty years since I had this done - gas general anaesthetic administered by a local GP, job done by my usual dentist at the usual surgery one Saturday morning. I'm still here! My point is that kind of dental treatment is now obsolete and is now almost always undertaken in hospital or a specialist dental hospital with all the safeguarding you would expect from general anaesthesia. It's far more likely to be an IV anaesthetic too - the gas I had now hasn't been used in British medicine for years.

Someone with more detailed and recent knowledge will be along soon but HTH in the meantime.

I would try to be matter of fact. Explain why they need to come out, the specialists say its the best was so we will trust them etc. If you think he'd appreciate it, you could always tell him about dental treatment in days of yore!

not questioning the decision to have GA, I assume there's a good reason.

but 2 of mine had baby teeth pulled and one needed an adult tooth pulled (because of terrible crowding) - all with local anaesthetic only. all teenagers, I can't remember exact ages but no younger than 12.

so unless there's a very compelling reason for GA I'd find out if it's even necessary.

hope that helps

hi op am a dentist and i used to do ga extraction lists for kids. it really is very incredibly straightforward. the theatre teams are very experienced and good and there is an anaesthetist and theatre staff solely focusing on the anaesthaesia an then the dental team focus on the patient and the teeth! it is literally just an induction agent rather than a full anaesthetic used for an hours long procedure and it is very very quick they are asleep and then teeth out and taken to recovery in a very short time. especially if pt is 13 then baby teeth should,'t have a lot of root left so should easily pop out. i know it is daunting but honestly try not to worry. hope it goes well!

oh and all of the extraction went without a hitch.

in fact DS4 needed another surgery to cut gums (also LA) to encourage adult teeth to descend.

I had 2 baby teeth taken out and replaced by implants a couple of years ago. It really wasn't bad at all. Maybe tell him it's very smart to get it done now because some silly people don't and then it's more difficult for them when they're adults? I didn't feel a thing so please tell him it's not painful or intimidating at all. Dentists are always much nicer to kids too!

Is there a reason he needs GA just for some baby teeth?

My son had two teeth removed under GA about 2 years ago. one on the top and one on the bottom.

The worst part was being bored waiting to go down to the theatre

He was fine, a bit woozy as you would expect but he was up and eating a baked spud three hours later.

I did let him have the following day off school but only because he didnt go down until late afternoon and we didnt get home until nearly 10.
If the procedure had been done in the morning I’d have sent him into school the next day.

My DS has a baby tooth removed when he was about 7, by complete chance one of the theatre nurses was a friend of ours. She said the actual 'operation" took seconds and as soon as DS was under the anesthetist was already staring to bring him round.

Thanks all. There are 7 teeth to be removed in all and I think that's the reason for the GA, as well as the fact that there is some further cutting to be done to allow the adult teeth through. I think that is being done at the same time but to be honest it's a year since we had the consultation (done virtually) so will need to check that tomorrow.

Glad your Ds was okay and fine the next day, Ted, ds is also annoyed at missing school so will be happy to go in Thursday if possible.

I had my adult incisor removed from my gum under GA when I was about 15/16 as it was at the wrong angle and wasn’t about to come through without impacting my other teeth. They specifically had to put me under GA as they would be cutting the gum to remove the tooth. Went in at 9am. I don’t like being in the operating theatre (I had operations on my broken arm when I was about 10) and it still freaks me out. Mentioned it to the nurse, who talked me through everything and made sure everything was explained to me. I woke up a short time later back on the ward. They made me eat some toast and have some orange squash. As soon as I’d had a wee I could go home, so was back home about 2pm. I had a small stitch in the gum that I kept messing with and so most of my pain was from my tongue messing with stitch, rather the gum or stitch itself.

For your sake, you might not want to tell your DS the next bit but I was out that night with my friends as usual and the next day I met up with a boy I fancied for some sneaky snogging

yes, he had the extra cutting to allow the adult tooth to come down.

A few paracetomal and he was fine - I think he milked the ‘pain’ element

He has ASD and can be anxious anyway but the staff were great.

To be honest, there was a very poorly little girl on the ward and he came away feeling he was really rather lucky to be healthy - a good lesson

@littlegreybird

that makes sense.
it's always worrying.

when DD was 4 she needed an op under GA to remove broken glass from her foot - I couldn't even explain to her anything, she was too little to understand.

DS2 had 2 different ops (aged 8 then 10), we just told him he'll have a little sleep but we'll be there when he wakes up.
there's not too much you can say, is it?

so very stressful, but hopefully it will be over quickly. sending you big hugs for tomorrow x

Tell him he won't even know it happened. I've had at least 7 general anesthetics in my life. Apart from fasting, I quite enjoy them. You don't remember falling asleep. They get you to count backwards from 100. You don't normally get to 90.

You wake up feeling like no time has passed and strangely refreshed.

My only advice is not to lie flat when he goes to bed afterwards as with that many teeth out, he might get bleeding and if you swallow blood it makes you sick and very dramatic it looks coming back up, I can assure you.

Being propped up helps reduce the chance of it bleeding again.

I think he'll be too sore for school and he won't be able to eat easily, so get lots of soft stuff in.

Absolutely no straws or fizzy drinks as they can dislodge the blood clots resulting in the dreaded dry socket.

Sounds like he's having an exposure and baby tooth extractions

He will be absolutely fine. An exposure can be a bit sore so make sure you've got some paracetamol in for afterwards. He will want a soft diet, pasta, yoghurt, mash potato, ice cream etc. But most children find they are able to eat normally very quickly following bahy teeth extractions. He will need to take extra care with his cleaning, warm salt water mouthrinses for after

The complication rate for dental generals in healthy 13 year olds is incredibly low. It is a very safe procedure, I have done lots of dental treatment under general. The actual procedure will likely take around half an hour, sometimes less. He will barely know whats happened!

littlegreybird, how did he get on ?

He got on fine, thank you. The staff were all amazing and he was only gone about an hour then came back talking like he'd had 5 pints, which I was a bit unprepared for .

I didn't realise an exposure was such a big deal though and eating and talking are a challenge still.

Thank you for all these helpful posts

Good show.