My ASD almost 5 yo having an operation for teeth to be taken out :/

[himynameisfred]

has anyone been through this, and could offer any advice on how to get through it while theyr ebeing put to sleep, etc.

His teeth have delayed for many reasons, him grinding his teeth with anxiety and also his constant tantrums over refusing to have the toothbrush in his mouth... :/

decayed*

Have had similar probems with teeth cleaning with my ds. he hasn't yet had any teeth out but it could still come to us. My dd had general anasthetic when she had stuck something up her nose. She is also ASD aged 6 and I was very worried about it. Top tips:

1. tell everyone and their dog that your ds is autistic both before operation and when you get to the hospital. I did this and they made sure she wasn't waiting around starving and thirsty by being the last one or late on their surgical list.
2. Taking portable DVd player, charger and DVDs helped afterwards while she was coming round on ward and feeling a bit poor. Also other new bits and pieces that I thought would console her.

With the anasthetic, they tried to put cream on her hand to get it numb in order to administer anasthetic. This wasn't a massive success as she kept trying to get bandages off. I went down to theatre with her and held her really tightly while they gave her something to relax her so they could then administer GA. It wasn't great but not as bad as I thought it would be as it was so quick to get her zonked out.

I did telephone anaesthetist office before we went in and they got one of them to ring me and chat about what they would do and how it would all go. This was very reassuring and if you can get hold of someone this might help you.

She came round very quickly and within a few hours she was drinking, hungry and looking fine. However, she didn't have any soreness so you might want to ask whether his mouth wll be sore afterwards.

Hope all goes well.

DS had all of his baby teeth taken ou when he was just 2 years old.
They had come through with little or no enamel on them and rotted almost immediatly.
DS has CP so a little different, but had to have a GA to get his teeth out.
It isn't nice leaving them when they have gone to sleep and I was told that if they are crying when they go to sleep they probably wake up crying too!
DS was given a loading dose of calpol and brufen before hand, he also had the 'magic' cream on his hands for the little cannula they put in.
What annoyed me about the whole thing was that the dentist who took his teeth out said they were infected but didn't prescribe any anti-biotics for him, so cue an emergency visit to the dentist on a saturday morning with DS spiking a temp of 39 !

I think his pain was better by about day 3 but we kept up with the calpol and brufen until this time.
Hope all goes well with your DS.

Hi, my ds got 9 teeth taken out last yr when he was 9 yrs old. This was due to him having abscess. The abscess went away and his teeth were fine, however due to him being severely autistic and no communication any dental work needs to be done under general anaesthetic. The dentist decided that they would take out all baby teeth just in case any other problems occured and my ds couldnt say if he was in pain. At hospital he was taken first, about half hour after arriving, when he came round he was screaming for about 10 mins then was a bit drowsy, however after about half hour was back to normal self running up and down and eating cheerios of all things, so much for he'll sleep all day today and most of tomorrow, no chance with my ds. Good luck

Meant to say when they are put to sleep it happens very quick, though dont really like this so always wait outside and send dh in with my ds. Take some of your ds favourite toys or whatever keeps him amused with you to keep his mind off it, i was fortunate in that my ds doesnt have much understanding so never really knew what was going on.

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences.

I think I'll take the laptop with Abney and Teal and his other favourite cbeebies programs.
He won't know what's happening bless him.

I have awful memories of when he was a baby them trying for over half an hour to get a needle in his hand while he screamed in pain. Hate myself for letting them do that to him.
I'll make sure he gets the magic cream on this time x

It might be worth you talking to the anaesthetist about the needles/cannula. beforehand. If it is difficult to get a needle into him, then they might be willing to knock him out with "gas" and put the needle in when he is asleep. Depends on how he would be with the mask though!

My daughter has had about 10 (mostly minor) operations and needs the gas induction as isn't compliant enough for the needle to go straight in even with the magic cream. We've found the best way to go is her having an oral pre med sedation as she becomes very sleepy and agreeable. It also helps with an amnesia effect afterwards so she doesn't keep reliving it.

Have a chat with the anaesthetist on the day and they are really helpful. They will also sometimes remove the canula in recovery as this can be an issue for my daughter. Good luck, I always find the actual day not as bad as expected but dread the run up.

My DD of about the same age has had a few GAs and it is impossible to get a canula into her while conscious, I always insist on gas. She usually recovers really really quickly after an op, and is calm, but when she had some teeth out she was like a whirling dervish when she woke up, I had to pin her down she was that freaked out, fine after a bit, but nurse said it was quite common for kids to go a bit nuts on waking after dental treatment, so don't worry if that happens.