12 year old needs teeth out, he's terrified..

[hbomb83]

Hi all. I'm wondering what to do for the best. My son needs braces, and because of overcrowding, he first needs 4 teeth out. We were booked into the dentist, but he was nervous, and during the first injection he found it so painful that he screamed so loud, and shouted at the dentist, and ran out crying hysterically. Poor lad, it was awful. So the dentist said she would refer him to somewhere else, where being put under general anaesthetic would be an option, to make it less stressful for him. He's much happier with that.
However, having spoken to this other place over the phone, they have said that actually, GA isn't used for this kind of extraction, and he'd have to rely on "happy gas"... I explained his terror and hysteria, and she just said to wait and chat to the dentist at our consultation on Thursday..
Can anyone tell me if their similar children used this gas for extractions? How was it? I had it in labour, and wasn't too impressed any of the three times, really.
Should I push for general anaesthetic? I'm worried he's going to be further traumatised. :( any advice appreciated, thank you xx

Is he generally this sensitive? I only ask because that seems very extreme behaviour.

The happy gas is very effective....my DD is ten and last year had to have two extractions on gas and was absolutely fine.

Our dental hospital is quite good with helping with dental phobia - maybe ask if they have any psychological help for kids.

Yeah, he is. He struggles doing things he finds scary or difficult, I home school him because he was having meltdowns at school and teachers weren't handling him well at all. I've wondered sometimes if he's on the spectrum, but having talked to doctors and done parent quizzes etc, he doesn't have any other traits at all, just emotional and sensitive. He's had blood taken a couple of times and actually coped brilliantly, was very proud of him. Mouth injections are awful though, I don't really blame him. :-/

Was your child nervous at all?

My dd was recommended braces, but won’t have them due to needing a tooth out. I have been happy with her deciding, because she only ‘borderline’ qualified for the braces, and she is a nightmare with pain.

I had 6 teeth out befire having braces (as an adult). I was booked in to have them out under local at the hospital and the dentist saw how nervous I looked (I've never even had a filling) and said she thought I would be better having it done under General which I did a few days later. She said it's not a procedure and takes ages. I was so pleased to be given that option.

I don't see why he should have to go through something that it is going to be painful and upsetting for a cosmetic procedure if he is that worried. And understandably worried in my view. Try and push for GA if you can. Or is it that they don't like giving children GA if they can avoid it? I don't how it feels to have a tooth out whilst awake but imagine it's pretty painful. Agree about gas and air not being that helpful.

Meant she said it's not an easy procedure.

4 extractions in one go would be horrible under local anaesthetic so presumably they would do it in 2 goes. My son has had extractions under both local and general (congenital issues, not decay) and the local was pretty awful. Actually they were both awful and the recovery from the general was scary but ok ultimately.
For 4 teeth I would definitely push for a general.

I had four teeth out for exactly that reason on laughing gas when I was 13.

I was very relaxed and a bit giggly through the whole procedure, was aware of what was happening but not worried at all.

Recovery afterwards was a bit tougher, I got very shaky immediaely afterwards, and then it was hard to manage the gauze packings/drinks with a numb face. Bit don't remember being in any pain in the days afterwards, just that weird urge to put your tongue in the new gaps

Glad I did it as can't imagine having 4extra teeth now! Be prepared that wisdom teeth might push teeth out of alignment again even with the extra room (did for me, but only minor issue, I wouldn't do braces again to correct it).

Hope that helps!

I had a week off work after my 6 extractions. Partly cos of the GA but also cos codeine made me throw up and was very hard to eat. Luckily didn't have dry sockets but that is meant to be painful.

6 extractions. 2 years of braces. Corrective jaw surgery in March and hopefully braces off in July. Been quite a journey!

What doctors have said he isn’t on the spectrum? If it was GP, I wouldn’t take that to mean anything. My GP told us our child wasn’t autistic when we raised concerns. Years later, GP was dead wrong. Mine boys mask very well and when they finally cannot cope, they break down.

It sounds like sensory issues for your boy, as that is a very extreme reaction

Some boys

IME, the dentists who do sedation are a lot better at treating nervous/sensitive patients as it’s part of the spectrum of management.

It starts with words and ends in drugs. Gas and air can be very effective in children.

How will he cope with the rest of the treatment OP? orthodontics is quite involved and at times, quite sore.

My daughter had a similar reaction when she had to have a filling due to her friend telling her they hurt. Was hysterical at the dentist. Teeth out much worse in terms of pain!

I had N2O (happy gas) for extractions as a kid. I remember soothing voices then not much else. I'm terrible with pain so I would definitely remember if it was traumatic in any way...

Maybe the gas is good then! Always seems so on operation ouch!!!

I had happy gas for extractions as a young child (maybe 5 or 6 yo). I actually enjoyed it! I can still remember the amazing "dreams" that I had.
I do wish my parents had looked after my teeth better, but that's another thread.
Good luck to your DS.

I had a root canal and a couple of other things recently. Couldn’t be knocked out.

The normal injections were just a scratch really, what I found really helpful was that the dentist let me have my iPod / headphones in. Turned my podcast up loud, shut my eyes and very nearly drifted off.

If I needed to ask a q I had to raise left hand and if dentist wanted to speak to me he touched my right arm, worked really well and was my most relaxing dentist experience ever!

@ShiftyMcGifty it has been GPs and teachers, so perhaps I should push for him to be assessed properly, I don't know... Generally he's fine. The aspects of his behaviour that make me wonder, are;
-The occasional reaction to pain. It's not all pain, just pain he's worried about.
-He sometimes laughs at something in an exaggerated and unnecessarily loud way that doesn't seem relative to the thing he's laughing at.
-With loud noises outside or on the tv, or is he's scared of a noise, he'll cover his ears
-He struggles sometimes to relate to other kids, but as he has a stammer and was bullied badly at school, it's hard to ascertain whether this is the cause as it's definitely made him shy and reticent with kids.

Others than that he is great. He's empathetic and caring, open, loves eye contact, has lots of interests, good sense of humour, dotes on his baby brother etc. Maybe he has a mild sensory disorder without being autistic, as that is possible, they don't necessarily go hand in hand..

@Ihatebuildabear bless your daughter, that's reassuring though that other children have had a hysterical reaction... x

And she was fine when we went back. Totally fine. And fine to go to dentist now. :)