To think there is no help for kids anxious about needles or dental treatment?

[TeaAndBunsPlease]

My dd gets very anxious about needles and or dental treatment and she needs both. I'm at my wits end. I've no idea how to get her to undergo a blood test or dental work. She won't even get a filling done.

Aibu or are there no resources to help her deal with this anxiety?

Ds2 went to the children's dental service and had strawberry scented gas and air to sedate him whilst he had a filling. This was years ago though. Perhaps you could see if there's a children's dental service in your area. It was run by the NHS.

I don't know what help is available for having a needle elsewhere. Perhaps the GP could prescribe something to be taken orally.

How old is she? My son was referred to the hospital dental service in our area and yesterday had treatment with gas and air to relieve anxiety. He is 10. Worked well for him.

We have been to get gas and air and she still refused even under the gas and air. I just don't know what to do or where to go from here.

As I'm a single parent and have another child who has significant impairment I will have to deal with all of this when things blow up. I just cannot seem to calm her.

Could you put numbing gel on the elbow before a blood test
That might help

It’s finding the right dentist and maybe seeing if can access a community dentist where they will sedate her

I have got the community dentist. I have the numbing gel. Without her participation, there is nothing the professionals or I can do.

She is 8 and a half.

Understandably none of the professionals are willing to wave around a syringe or needle with my daughter not even able to physically settle.

I am at a loss.

When she is highly anxious obviously she is not taking anything in. I've tried to talk to her outside these settings. I just am out of ideas.

Your dentist should be able to refer you to the local dental hospital. They should be able to sort her out.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow that might take a year or two apparently. I need to help her overcome this awful anxiety as she needs blood tests too for something else and I need to help her deal with these fears.

Hypnosis might help

I'm starting to wonder about hypnosis @ArseInTheCoOpWindow but I'm not sure about the combo of kids and hypnosis. It's pretty costly from what I remember when I got it myself and I will need sure fire results.

Numbing gel at the dentist works if you can get her to try. I hate needles but you honestly don't feel the injection at all.

Can it be linked to some reward?

Can the gp prescribe a low dose of diazapam?

I understand how you feel. My son will need teeth taken out under a local anesthetic and I spoke to the dentist about this. He said it would be done under local anesthetic at the dentist. Referall to hospital would take too long (2years I think) as because of covid they only take absolute emergencies. He also tried to tel me that local was best anyway as it is a minor procedure and you don’t want the risks of a general for such minor op. Which I do agree with, but some children just can’t cope so I am not sure what the options are.

I did research in to it and their is a local anesthetic called a dental “wand” which applies the anesthetic without a needle. It is somehow absorbed through the gum. Perhaps this would be an option for you? I couldn’t find anywhere local to us but it is available in a lot of big cities.

happykidsdental.co.uk/making-children-comfortable/the-wand-painfree-injections/

Emla cream is good.

I had this issue with my child. The hospital arranged for a play therapist to join us for the blood tests. They talked through what was scaring them, what changes could be made and provide distractions. They also did some separate therapy sessions. The therapist still comes along for all our blood tests, it’s made a huge difference. Could you contact your hospital and see if they have a play therapist? Wishing you the best with finding a way forward, I know how distressing it can be.

I'm really sorry you and your DD are going through this, I know how hard it is as my DD is the same.

Her needle phobia has been ongoing for nearly 10 years we have tried gas and air, numbing cream, hypnosis, EMDR, play therapy, diazepam and still no further forward. Hers is tricky because it's like PTSD (as stated by a psychologist) due to how it all started and because she has other MH issues it's going to be very difficult to fix.

Do you know what started your daughter's fear? Or what she is scared will happen? For some kids, it's just the fear of the unknown/not being in control in which case play therapy might help as they can de-sensitise her to the whole procedure including the needle itself. If it's a fear of the pain then maybe a combination of gas and air and numbing cream might help.

She needs to be at least willing, so methods like the numbing gel and wand, happy gas etc won’t work as she’s not even at the stage of willing to try them. You could ask your GP to prescribe an oral sedative before she goes in but I don’t know if they will due to her age. Or try hypnosis or CBT for a while before going. She also would benefit from acclimatisation sessions at the community dentist where she just goes in to get used to the surroundings and over time sits in the chair and lets the dentist do the treatment, but with the huge backlogs of patients, the dentist may not have time to do say 4 sessions of this without getting any treatment done

Talk to hospital re blood test as they should have a play specialist who is used to dealing with this and offer lots of help and advice they may also be able to help re dentist.

@balalake I offered every reward under the sun.

We have even done the acclimatisation sessions and it was a no go!

I think we have done 6/7 dental appointments for this one tooth. She just panics and they cannot carry out treatment.