Pain relief for 3 year old after dental surgery?

[Denali]

DS is scheduled for some dental surgery this coming Friday (under general anesthesia, extractions, crowns, fillings, about an hour of work), and I'd like to have some pain medicine in the house in case he needs it afterwards.

Problem:
Tylenol and Motrin had a recall of their children's medicine in the last weeks, and there's NOTHING on the shelves of our supermarket. There's just the store brand (Kroger children's ibuprofen), but that contains dye (Red 40 etc.), to which DS had a reaction before. Tylenol and Motrin usually have dye-free formulas in addition to the regular ones....but there are none to be had at the moment.

The ped. dentist said he'd give me a prescription for some pain medicine (Lortab) which I'll probably fill, just to be on the safe side if he really needs relief, but which I'm not too happy about (I looked it up, it's a combination of acetaminophen and hydrocodone and supposed to be pretty strong, habit-forming, etc. ). It sounds like something I wouldn't really like to give a 3 year old.......

Any ideas what I should do?

I know that there's a chance that he might not even need any painkillers but I'd rather have them at home in case he needs them than try to find them somewhere when it's urgent

Any advice would be appreciated

[Slingin'Momto4]

My 3 yr old just had major Oral Surgery under GA (about 1 1/2hrs) last Thurs and she did not need ANY pain meds at all! They gave me a script for Tylenol w/Codeine (maybe ask about that) and I didn't even need to fill it! My thoughts are that her teeth hurt her so much for so long (The dentist said she had chronic infections in her mouth from the teeth) that the pain didn't even phase her, KWIM? She looks sooo much happier now and tells me constantly that her yucky teeth are gone and don't hurt her anymore! Good Luck w/the surgery ours went awesome and I hope yours does as well!!

[Denali]

Hi,

well, we are home again and finally have the surgery behind us

It looks like DS seems to be doing fine without pain meds as well. I did fill the prescription for the stronger pain meds (just to be on the safe side, even though I didn't anticipate him needing them and didn't want to give that stuff anyway), and I did assemble a variety of OTC pain meds (after going to 3 different pharmacies, I had finally found all I wanted, Walgreens actually does have dye-free formulas ), but from the way he's acting right now, he probably/hopefully won't need any, just like your daughter. I took your advice and spent the last few days making popsicles, bought ice cream, etc. He seems to be doing ok, since he's already asking for meat and bread instead of icecream.

They surgery experience was fine. Just as I had feared, they weren't quite as flexible as your hospital when it came to going with him before the surgery and being called right after, but it was good enough.

Before surgery we actually had a small problem because the "loopy drink" (Versed) only comes in a red liquid, thus containing artificial dye, but his dentist was right there, and my son likes him, so we actually didn't need to use the drink at all, DS rode into the OR on the dentist's shoulders and was quite happy about it. They said, inside the OR they just distracted him with a balloon, put the mask on him, and he went to sleep within seconds

After the surgery, they didn't call me while he was still coming out of it, but called me right when he woke up. So apparently he really didn't realize he was without me for more than a minute, couple of minutes, and he quieted down in my arms right away.

So while I still wish that we could have spared our kids this ordeal, I think both of us can be pretty happy with the way it went and the result

Now I just need to catch up on some sleep....I was so worried that I wasn't able to sleep much last night

Thanks for sharing your experience, it came at the perfect time.

[MunchiesMom]

Thanks for sharing your LO's experience Denali. It has come at the perfect time as my 2 YO goes in for GA at the surgery center to have some dental work addressed this Wednesday.

I have just been sick over this, have researched (like you) every option. I first thought NO WAY to GA, but it appears to be the best option for DS. We mistakenly had one tooth worked on with mild sedation and the experience was horrible for DS. He will forever be traumatized from it. I have huge regrets.

So, 4 dentists later, we found one we like and who will be taking care of him on Wednesday. I'm crazy stressed, day dreaming about everything that will happen and how he'll respond to it. Then ultimately how I'll feel. It's aching knowing he will be scared, will be upset and will be in pain... like seeing it coming gives me more stress that anything.

Can you share more about your experience?

[Denali]

I'm so sorry for not responding sooner, I hadn't been on here for a few days. I hope you'll see this before tomorrow

All in all it was a pretty positive experience. The fact that my son seems to like the dentist helped a lot, esp. when we had to make do without the Versed. So I'm hoping that your dentist is good with kids, too and that your LO one likes him.

I was just like you, scared, stressed out, couldn't sleep the night before, and had nightmares in the short time I did sleep. On the whole, I seemed to take it a lot harder than he did

He was fine before the surgery, was unhappy immediately afterwards but calmed right down when he was able to settle on my lap. They let us sit in a big recliner type chair for about an hour while they finished up paperwork and watched him. And then we drove home, and he was fine. Asked for meatballs right away

I really hope that your experience will be similar and wish you and your LO all the best. Please let us know afterwards how it went.

And please try not to worry too much. We both did all the research and made the decision after lots of agonizing.....we did our best, and the rest is not up to us.

Good luck for tomorrow, I'll be thinking of you both

[MunchiesMom]

It was fine... sooooooo much worse in my head. Everything went as smoothly as it could have. He only fussed after waking, didn't cry, when they took a bandaid off. It was gut wrentching for me leading up to it, because of my issues, but the experience for him was tons easier than getting vax at his well-baby visits at the ped! They did the IV and everything once he was out, so the only he had to endure was getting his temp and blood pressure taken. I held him as he went to sleep (which was so hard for me) but just secured him in my arms and sang to him to make him feel safe.

Couldn't have asked for an easier experince.

[Denali]

Oh, I'm so glad it went well for you, too.

I was thinking about you during the day....it feels so good AFTER everything's over, doesn't it?

My son is still talking about the "balloon" (aparently that's what they use to distract the kids from the mask for the anesthesia). Nothing else made an impact apparently, except for the balloon

Good to hear that everything went all right. Now get some sleep, I'm sure you need it

And a speedy recovery for your LO

[Slingin'Momto4]

I am so glad your surgerys went well! Its such a relief when its over!!!