My daughter (7y/o) needs to have 2 teeth pulled. The dentist determined there's not enough room for the adult teeth to come in. It's been a little over a year since she lost the baby teeth and the new ones have yet to come in due to spacing. She said I have 2 options. She can do it in the office with "laughing gas" & numbing the area but she would be awake or I can take her to an oral surgeon where she would be "put under". My first reaction was to do the procedure in the office w/ gas but now I'm doubting my choice. I'm thinking it would be pretty scary for her to be awake but scary for me to have her sedated. Any thoughts or suggestions? Has your child gone through this? As always, thanks for the advice.
Thanks so much for sharing all of your stories. After reading them & talking with other moms I came to realize that this is a fairly common procedure. We do have a wonderful pedicatric dentist. So I guess I will be sticking with my original decision of using gas and Novacaine. But it doesn't hurt to get the opinion of those that have been there. Thanks again!
As long as you are calm about it and the dentist is honest with you daughter about what he is doing, she will be fine with the gas.
Dentistry is so much better now than it used to be,
my son was a little older (10 or 11) when he had to have a bigass procedure done, and i opted for the gas and for him to stay awake. he had such violent reactions to the anesthesia (hysteria upon awakening) when he got his ear tubes done that i thought it was worth trying. it was great. he was awake but totally not anxious and very cooperative throughout the entire ordeal. it was hard on me but he was fine!
khairete
S.
Dentists who work with kids know what they're doing. Laughing gas pretty much makes a kid feel like it's over in 10 minutes.
Kids aren't really as traumatized by it as some would think.
The nice thing about nitrus is that it wears off quickly as opposed to the affects of general anesthesia.
My kids were never put out for dental procedures. They were, however, made quite comfortable and did just fine.
Best wishes.
My child didn't but I did. They put me out with sleeping gas at the exact same age for the exact same problem. I didn't have a problem with it at all, other than being sleepy for a while! In fact the main thing I remember is being upset because my sister got to eat hamburgers afterwards and I wasn't allowed ot eat for a while. :)
My daughter had a tooth removed a few years ago. We have a kids dentist. We were really nervous with using laughing gas. They had a strawberry flavored mask (actually they had a few choices and my Daughter chose strawberry). We were in the room with her and it was not a huge dose of laughing gas as you would see with an adult. Just a touch. She was never left alone. Tooth was removed quickly. She did get a little emotional afterwords when she was the tooth that was pulled out. But within 2 hours after she was fine. I would just pick a dentist who specializes in kids and use the laughing gas. Easiest for the kid.
My daughter had three pulled recently (age 7 as well) for the same reason, and she had the gas. She did wonderful. No pain, hardly remembers a thing. She had absolutely no trauma associated, it was a wonderful experience! Don't put her under, there's no reason to.
My son's teeth were crowded and he had to have a few baby teeth pulled because the adult teeth did not dissolve the baby teeth s roots. It was over very quickly. We used a Novocain shot and didn't use the gas and he was fine.
Right about then my son started using an expanding retainer which enlarged his jaw so his adult teeth would have all the room they would need.
My daughter had two teeth removed when she was still 5 in the office with laughing gas and numbing. It didn't bother her a bit! She came out so excited to have her teeth for the tooth fairy (it was her first teeth to lose.) She said it didn't hurt at all. Our dentist uses a much smaller needle for numbing than adult dentists use. If your daughter has had good experiences at the dentist, I would say do it in the office. Chances are that she may have to have more teeth pulled over time, and visits to the oral surgeon will really add up. I had 13 teeth pulled throughout my childhood (small mouth, big teeth). A good dentist will be able to soothe her through the procedure. (It's probably going to be worse for you than your daughter!)
My neighbor just went through this with her 6 year old. She opted for the gas and her child is a very anxious kid at times. She said that once they started the gas and the procedure, her daughter was fine. She had to get two crowns and four teeth extracted. No problems.
I had 2 baby teeth pulled when I was 7. I had the gas. Didn't bother me at all.
I had 4 more adult teeth pulled when I was 12 (when braces were put on) also was not fully sedated. Had no problems.
Had my wisdom teeth pulled under full sedation-and while I again had no problems I was super loopy for the whole day. And had pain where the IV was.
DD recently had to have cavities filled and I opted for only novacaine.
I would opt for the gas and novacaine. Always opt for less.
It is really not as scary as it seems.
HTH!
I remember having gas as a child and thought it was really cool!
My son had a front baby tooth pulled (not loose at all) in the office with novocaine only, when he was about 5. He did fine. He understood they were going to put the tooth to sleep first (pinch/shot) and that it had to come out.
My daughter had to have 3 teeth pulled 2 times in her life for the same spacing issues your daughter is facing. The first time she was put completely under because her pediatric dentist felt more comfortable with that then doing it while she was awake. I should have run and never looked back when he suggested it. A few years later she had to have her second round of 3 teeth pulled this time with my childhood dentist. He is a family dental practitioner and only shortly before I moved our family to his practice opened an office in our area - trust me if he'd been there to begin with we would have been there the whole time. He used only novacaine and she never felt a thing...not even the shot of novacaine. Her pediatric dentist wouldn't even do a filling without laughing gas...I don't know why we stayed so long with him.
There is always a risk with sedation. If a dentist is any good he/she won't need gas or sedation to do what needs to be done and without traumatizing the child.
Take her to a pediatric dentist and let her be put out. She is old enough to be awake and live through those memories but why? I want to wait as long as possible to have the kids have those memories.
We are going to the pediatric dentist tomorrow and I fully expect him to say lets do some work on their teeth. We have soft enamel and the kids get cavities. I would not even consider them being awake at 7 and 4.
My daughter had two teeth pulled at age 5. She only had the gas and Novocaine. the shot was the worst part, she didn't even notice the teeth being pulled. I would opt for that. I had teeth pulled as a kid for spacing issues and they put me under and I was very ill afterward. My Mom was not happy. Good luck!
