Dental phobic child

[faulkernegger]

Any advice on how to get my dental phobic/fearful ds (9) to have a filling? Ist time was traumatic - he wasn't expecting the needle to hurt so much, and the 2nd time didn't happen; He screamed and struggled, tried to get out of the chair etc. The dentist recommended sedation at another clinic, which we tried, but it wasn't enough to calm him down and he was almost hysterical when the chair went back and the dentist approached. Has anyone tried IV sedation? I'm so worried about him losing his teeth if we can't get over this. He's very good at cleaning, mouthwash etc.

Are these baby teeth or adult set of teeth?
Either way though, if he is on his second set of fillings at 9, then you really need to improve oral hygiene and cut down on sticky sweets/ sugary drinks. I'm not trying to be rude, I had a similar problem: It was only when my DD has a filling to one back (baby) tooth that I realised she was not brushing every surface. It's easy to think they brush correctly, but my DD obviously wasn't, and had she continued with what I thought was a good brushing, she would have had continued problems.
Your long term solution is to improve oral hygiene, so the trips to dentist can ultimately be pain free and therefore just a normal routine part of every day life.
Short term, you need to deal with current filing, not going to be easy given his current emotion reaction to anything to do with dentists. My DD only had minor filling, but at that time dentist said that for serious cases would sedated with nitrous oxide.
Try the following website, they offer a lot of help www.dentalfearcentral.org/help/sedation-dentistry/laughing-gas

Good luck

I've had IV sedation for a root extraction and it was excellent. It was at the dental hospital. Manchester dental hospital offers it for kids I think so I'm sure others will too.

Another option would be a general anaesthetic which is what my daughter with special needs had when she needed a filling. She also had coatings placed on her back teeth which can help stop decay at the same time.