DS2 has to have up to 8 teeth removed under GA

[sphil]

...and I am feeling devastated. We knew that he had some spots of decay on his milk teeth (a legacy of poor diet when younger) but now his adult molars are showing a condition called hyperplasia/hyperplasty? where the enamel is almost non-existent. The dentist said it's often linked with severe childhood illness and AB use in early infancy, both of which DS2 had at 10 days old. These teeth now have cavities and the dentist says that extraction is the best option. Because they don'y like giving GAs more than once, they will take out the less affected teeth at the same time.

I am going to ring the hospital and find out exactly what will happen so I can do DS a photo story. But other than that, does anyone on here have experience, reassurance etc? I am panicking about lots of things - he's not allowed to eat before the procedure, his mouth may be numb and painful, he is supposed to 'refrain from exploring the sockets with fingers or tongue' fgs - we haven't got a hope in hell of preventing that, as he does it all the time anyway.

sphil - what a worry for you.

My DS (no SN which make hospitals a problem) was in a dental surgery ward having an op a couple of weeks ago.

Definitley talk to your consultant / dental surgeon about the list - at 7 your ds will be one of the older ones there, possibly (SO many small children having teeth removed.), but he should definitely be moved up the list if he has an ASD. They can adjust the list as necessary.

DS was having a biopsy, but as they had also found hypoplasia (? sp) (which is interesting as he was on AB from birth fo a week) they out some resin coating on while he was out and under.

Good luck - when is the op? Call your surgeon as far as possible in advance and ask about him being moved as early as poss up the list.

poor DS.
My DS1 had three teeth removed last Tuesday under a GA. He is 16 and had already had a few removed at the dentists but he had an impacted one which had grown across the roof of his mouth which they'd hoped would come down after the removal of the others but it didn't.

He was due for surgery at 3pm but was advised to be at the hospital at 11.30am and not to eat or drink after 9am. He is at boarding school in the UK and I'm abroad so I didn't get to go with him

They had to cut a flap in the roof of his mouth to remove the impacted tooth and he was sore for a day or two but is fine now. He was apparently a big dozy and not talkative immediately afterwards but that is not unusual

He was told not to have warm drinks for 24 hours and the following day he felt a little sick (possibly from the GA). He was only in theatre for about 20 minutes and had to stay at the hospital for 3 hours afterwards and stayed in bed the next day as felt a little groggy.

Hope all goes well for your DS x

Poor ds2

I made my teeth bleed badly when I had them removed aged 11 (for braces). It bled a lot at night and sort of formed a long string, it looked fairly horrific when I woke up, but it actually stopped bleeding at some stage during the night because it had been left alone iyswim.

My friend's son with SLD's has recently had an op (won't say what as I don't want to identify him). She said when he came round he started pulling at all the dressings etc and they didn't even last until they got home, but it was OK anyway.

Do discuss all that stuff before hand with a senior consultant if you can, I have found them very good in the past at considering those issues.

Also a social story would be a good idea I think.

Although I should add if this was ds1, I would have a symbol story ready for the day but I wouldn't introduce it much before then because it would completely stress him out.

Sphil we were able to visit the hospital beforehand, meet the nurses, ask any questions etc. They made lots of notes about ds and assured me we would be first on the day's list etc. Ds loved the beautiful playroom and all was well so I was as calm as could be expected on the actual morning of the op.

Unfortunately when we got there we were taken to a completely different ward in a different part of the hospital with nothing for ds to do (he was too stressed to want things I'd taken as he'd expected what he'd seen before I suppose), and nurses who'd never met him. Compared to the ones we'd seen before it felt like they couldn't care less and I was left alone in a room with a broken door to try and restrain a distraught ds for several hours. I almost walked out.

Anyway, that's beside the point really and just my bad luck, BUT it might be useful for you to ask for a visit beforehand so that your ds can meet the nurses etc when you are in a more relaxed mood? If it had worked out for us it would have made a big difference.