General Anesthesia for Dental Work

As a dental assistant I would NOT recommend doing this. There isn't any reason you can't do this in a few visits. Also why not just a little nitrious oxide to calm you child down. I would get a second opinion. General anethesia is taken lightly, you child is so young. I guess as a mom follow what you think is best.
Best of luck.

My youngest brother had this done 30+ years ago with no problems. My youngest had surgery with GA 14 years ago with no problems. Any time you have any medical procedure there will be risk. There are risk from just taking medications, even over the counter ones. Make sure that wherever you have these procedures done they meet the states/local criteria for doing these procedures. They should also be able to tell you the percentage of people that have adverse reactions to this type of procedure as well as if anyone at that facility has had adverse reactions. Remember that each person can react differently from the next in these situations. I have one child who can take tylenol and it will help no matter what the pain is. I have another one who will only get relief from advil. My husband was given vicodin for toothache pain, it only helped a little. I was given the same thing and it knocked me on my tush! I slept for 6 straight hours, heard nothing, had no pain, woke up and still felt groggy and drank something then slept for another 10 hours. When I woke up the next time I still had no pain. When the pain started to come back I to some advil and felt fine. So just remember people can react differently to the same thing. Good Luck!

My son had it, and it was textbook perfect. Yes, it's scary signing those forms; but the risk is minimal. The experience may be different at different hospitals, but in my son's case, I met with the doctor and the anesthetist before the surgery; then the nurse took my son back to put him under (I wasn't with him), and they did the surgery. He was awake but still groggy when they brought me to him, and his mouth was obviously dry and sore. He was "not a happy camper," but I think it was mostly because he was disoriented. We stayed in the little discharge waiting room (which had a TV, so we could watch the movie we brought) for a while, until they made sure that everything was just fine, and there were no adverse effects. I carried him out to the car, and I think the jostling of that upset his stomach. He threw up then, and just after I got him settled into the car. By the time we made it back to my mom's (an hour away, where she was watching my other son), he was back to himself. Within an hour or so after that, he was running around and playing with his cousins, like nothing had happened.

I agree 100% with Heidi. I, too, was a dental assistant for a general dentist. We saw many children and he administered nitrous oxide to the child then put the tooth "to sleep". I know he would not have recommended what you have been told to do. My opinion is that pedi dentists are highly over-rated. They can be very expensive in general and tend to recommend procedures similar to what you have been told. I would get a second and even third opinion from a good general dentist. These are baby teeth! They will loose them and then you need to be concerned with the permenant one. If it was a permenant tooth, I would recommend root canal if necessary, but it is ridiculous to do a root canal on the baby tooth. Unless there is a totally extraordinary reason why they recommended this because of the permenant tooth, I wouldn't do it. Is the child in pain? Then that would be a different story. I would get a second opinion with an alternative plan. You don't say what tooth it is so I can't say when your child will go through losing it ----will it be in the next couple years or longer. Also, I would analyze your child's diet so that this dental issue can be corrected for the future and he doesn't do this sort of damage to the permenent teeth. Sweets, juices along with foods that you think are healthy like raisins can be very damaging to teeth. Make sure your child is brushing well. If it is hard to get your child to brush, there are ways.....games even. Start now to make a habit of it before the little one starts getting those permenant ones. Hope this helps.

if i were you if they are baby teeth, i would just have them pulled. if they are front teeth, it won't be that long before they come out anyway. he will very quickly get use to chewing a diffrent way with out the 2 teeth. at four it is a risk and a huge expense for baby teeth. really think about it. is it worth it? if it were his permant teeth that would be a diffrent story, good bless, mom of 7. some with good teeth and some with bad. so i have been there too. have 2 in braces right now. R.

My 5 yr old just went through this last month with absolutely not problems except a tummy ache afterwards. He was supposed to have a couple root canals and many crowns however they ended up pulling 4 teeth, doing 2 crowns and 1 filling. It was a very pleasant experience before and after... the doctor was outstanding. He even took the time to call us several times the day of the surgery and the next couple days to make sure he was doing alright and could keep food down.

My only suggestion to you is to not worry so much and be extremely comfortable with your dentist. Good Luck and God Bless

I have not been through this, but I just wondered if you ever dealt with a chain of pediatric dental places, it is a chain of them called "Small Smiles". I moved to WV from Pittsburgh, and I swear, Small Smiles is always in trouble back home for giving kids totally unnecessary dental work done. I wish I had more experience on this but I can tell you that for adults, general anesthesia is no joke. It is quite serious and complications can and do sometimes arise. I really don't want to catastophrize, or scare you, I know as a mom I get nervous enough, but seriously, is there anyway that the teeth could just be pulled using some novocaine? Is there anyway that the work could be put off for a bit, especially if your child is not in any pain? Just if it's one of those "Small Smiles" places, please, run like hell in the opposite direction, and though I am by no means a pediatric dental anything, I would seriously suggest, out of common sense, taking your little one for a second opinion. I don't know, but it seems odd to me that a child that small be placed under something as risky as GA, for something as involved as a root canal, when the teeth are not permanent anyway. Again, I'm no professional on this topic, I could be totally off base on this, but GA is quite serious, and I think if it were my son(age 3) I would avoid GA at all costs, many people are very sick after GA, and I've had it two times, and both times I had to have a breathing tube shoved down my throat, because it IS GA, where the 2 times I've had IV sedation(I.V Valium/Versed) I was fine to breathe on my own. I don't know, this seems odd to me, I pray it's not small smiles though, please get a second opinion.

Both of my sons have had to have dental work done while under General Anesthesia. Both Times I met with the Dentist and the Anesthesiologist before and they explained everything they were doing. Then I got to go back with my sons while they were put under. Yes, it was hard and upsetting to see them put out like that, but there is no way my sons would have allowed that to be done to them other wise. My oldest was 3 and youngest was about 2.5. They came and got me when he was waking up and he was not happy, but we sat in the recovery room for a little while. When we left both of my boys threw up in the car, but they told me that was likely! With in the day they were back to their normal selves!

This is just my opinion. A root canal on a 4 yr old is ridiculous. I would get a second opinion. My thoughts on this are they are 4 and they will get more teeth. I would let them do the fillings and tell them to pull the teeth they are saying need root canals. Root canals are very painful and sometimes dont even work. They can pull the teeth and place spacers that will fall out or be removed when the new teeth are coming in. Yes it will be a while but better have them pulled and wait for teeth then have a root canal and have to have it pulled anyway. I would ask a second opinion.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=2008022510585...

http://danielravel.proboards.com/index.cgiboard=general&a...

here are two links that have a lot of information.....

My grandson, age 6, also needed a couple of crowns and several fillings and the pediatric dentist said that he would need general anesthesia, not only because of the amount of work but also because he's a very high energy child and could not sit still for as long as would be needed. My grandson has a speech learning disability and is in a special ed class. His behavior is often difficult.

My daughter consulted another dentist who was recommended by a co-worker and he said that he rarely uses general anesthesia. He successfully completed the work in 4 sessions, I think it was. He may have used some sort of calming medication because my grandson was not nearly as agitated as I would've expected. But he did not use any anesthesia, general or conscious. It was called twilight anesthesia when I was given it. My grandson remembered what had happened, complained some about having to sit still but not about pain.

We live in Portland,OR and the dentist is Allan R. Pike. He has a web site and I think I've heard that he's a pioneer in some form of pediatric dentistry. He has a web site. He may be able to refer you to someone in your area.

My son is 8 and has had several fillings and crowns. The dentist uses demerol plus nitrous, which I guess would be the conscious sedation. They say this also relaxes his muscles which makes it easier. He is awake enough to follow directions and answer when they ask if he's OK. They monitor his blood pressure the whole time, and have a certain amount of time to get the work done before it wears off. He usually takes a nap in the car afterwards. My son has also been under general anesthesia for several medical procedures, including an MRI.

I would ask if the procedures can be done separate and if not get a second opinion before going forward, to avoid the use of general anesthesia.
With my almost 7 y/o we have done general anesthesia twice: adenoidectomy (3 y/o) and tonsillectomy (5 y/o). Both times he was slower than normal to wake up. It took longer to extubate him than normal. If I could have not done it a second time I wouldn't have. It's a very nervous and worrisome time.
I just don't see the risks of general anesthesia being worth the work that needs to be done on your son when there are ways to avoid it. Look into other options first.