advice please-local or general anaesthetic for ds?

[whymummy]

hi all
ds(6) has two extra teeth on the roof of his mouth(weird i know)they're right behind his front teeth and they will be removed in september at the hospital,i am worrying myself silly about the anaes. the dentist wants to give him a general but i'm terrified and if he has a local he'll be terrified of dentists afterwards,at the moment he loves dentists so i know he will sit nice and still but if it really hurts i will have to drag him to the dentist everytime he has an appointment but the thought of him going under is just too scary for me
any advice or experiences?thanks

What a dilemma - can see pros and cons either way. I would probably go along with what the dentist thinks is best - would the anaesthetic be administered at the dental surgery or is it a specialised dental hospital? I wouldn't be keen on a general in a dental surgery, would rather it was done in hospital. Just think it must be quite a traumatic procedure, no matter how OK he is with dentists now - having teeth out isn't nice

Only experience I have is that I had a general anaesthetic at 5: I can remember it, can remember going to sleep in theatre, and can remember waking up with a raging thirst and only being allowed to suck a corner of a damp flannel in case too much water made me sick. Don't think it traumatised me for life, though I expect my Mum was worried sick.

Probably not been much help - hope someone has more useful advice.

Duh, you said "at the hospital" - sorry! I think I would go for a general anaesthetic then, though that's easy to say because he isn't my child.

I think it would depend on how long the procedure is likely to take and how invasive it is. I remember having a tooth out at about 7 under gas and the smell of the rubber mask and gas still evokes strange associations, I wasn't at all sure how I'd deal with entenox in labour. I'd also had adenoids out at 5 and woken during the op and was really scared - I was there but not iyswim. Apparently they can flavour the gas these days and I think it is probably better long term not to have memories of the procedure itself.

It will probably be done with a very light anaesthetic. My dd had a damaged tooth removed under anaesthetic at the hospital but she was walked out of the theatre. It was only a very light 'whiff' of gas she got just to make her sleepy for the seconds it took to get the tooth out. He'll be fine

thank you ever so much to all of you,it has helped a lot,like i said is not till sept. but i'm already having sleepless nights over it,your messages have reassured me,mears i hope ds's procedure is as quick as your dd's,his next appointment with the dentist is not till the 23rd of june so i have to wait till then to ask lots of questions about it,i'm convinced is going to hurt him lots afterwards because of the teeth being on the roof of his mouth and not the gum
anyway thanks again

whymummy -loads of sympathy. My daughter had to have an op last Friday and I had been angsting for ages about the GA - see the 'reliable relaxation techniques' thread. had alrady cancelled it once due to my fears. Well, she had it on Friday, no problems and was out playing in the afternoon. He will be fine but I completely understand your fear.

Whymummy, could you talk to the dentist about how much anaesthetic will be administered and how long you son will be asleep for? My limited knowledge of these things is that they only administer the minimal amount these days so (possibly) the risks which are minimal anyway are further minimised.

My ds had a mole removed a few days ago under a local anaesthetic and to be honest, I don't think that I would have wanted him to have a local for removal of teeth that are not very loose already. I think local injections in the mouth can be very painful and as you rightly say, it may traumatise him in the future.

good luck with whatever you decide, I am sure that both you and your son will be fine.

thank you tinker i have just read the whole thread and i will try and follow the advise you were given to calm me down,so glad your dd is ok
thanks sis you're right it will be very painful to go for local as it is the roof of the mouth i had a huge abssess once and the aneas. didn't work on the gums because of the pus so i had the injections on the roof of my mouth and it was agony

I would opt of the general I think. I have had local anasthetic for abcess treatment and it was fairly grim and I was about 16 at the time. Needles up into the roof of my mouth and high into my gum under mu upper lip. Made my eyes stream, I can tell you. I've had general anaethetics and I have found them much easier to cope with.

My dd1 (6) had an abcess on her baby tooth earlier this year. Our dentist suggested general but at the dental clinic they said it was up to me. We went for the local in the end because I just could not bring myself to let her be put out (of course traumatised myself about whether it was best for me or her whilst we were waiting!). Anyway they were absolutely excellent with her. They talked to her constantly and sedated her and rubbed gel on her gum before giving her the local etc etc. I held her hand whole time and she said afterwards that it didn't hurt, and was most impressed with the stickers they gave her!!! HTH

I think I'd let him have the general, if only because the procedure will be just minutes under a general, but will probably take longer if he's awake. Plus, under a local he'll hear everything (I hate the suction thing), and might see some of the blood, which is likely to upset him a bit.

I know what you mean tho'. My ds had general anaesthetic at just 4 months old. I was terrified.

is awful isn't it hmb?i nearly passed out when they were draining the abcess
thanks motherbear,glad your dd didn't suffer

hi easy
thanks i think it might be the best thing to do and hope he's only under for a very short period of time