my 15 yo DS has to have braces and head gear!

[LionessMom]

he has an impacted tooth that they are going to expos and attach braces to so they can pull it out of where it is. he still has one baby tooth left in front of it. the baby tooth has no root but is not loose. the ortho wanted to wait as long as possible to see if it fell out on its own but it wouldnt. apparently 15 is pretty late to have a baby tooth. his 12 yr old molars on the bottom arent in all the way yet either. he will 16 in june. so they are going to put braces on the top teeth and anchor that impacted tooth to bring it forward. then they are going to give him head gear. his over bite is so bad it will cause function issues. then 6 mo from now they will put braces on his bottom teeth.

my son is happy. he wants nice teeth. they are very crooked and his bottom jaw is noticeably shorter than the top. the girls thinks he is hot but he thinks it will help. all i know is that it must be pretty bad for his function if government insurance said they would pay for it. it sounds expensive. they didnt even tell me how much. but thankfully his insurance will cover it all.

the only part that has him scared is when after they pull the baby tooth, they have to cut into the roof of his mouth and open a flap to attach to the impacted tooth. he wants them to put him out. i dont know what they will do. we have to talk to the dental surgeon. i would prefer awake as i know there are dangers to being put to sleep for it.

can you tell me anything about the risk of numbing versus asleep for it? he is quite nervous about having a knife in his mouth.

oh, and anything else you can tell me about his situation. thanks!

[organicmidwestmama]

there are other options besides general anesthesia, but i don't know if they are less risky or not. some dentists do "concious-sedation", which involves intravenous meds i believe, but i don't know exactly what drugs this involves. i saw one dentist who prescribed valium, which is a long used anti-anxiety drug, for taking before and during each appointment for anxious patients. nitrous oxide is very safe but you are aware of what's happening, it just sort of "seperates" your mind from the reality of the discomfot a bit, and it's often used in general dentistry. i have had a wisdom tooth pulled w/only local anesthesia (novocaine/ lidocaine) and felt no pain. if a patient is properly numbed up there shouldn't be any pain. the other drugs are more to deal w/fear from what i know.

[LionessMom]

he is real scared and is insisting on being put out. i guess we will see what the oral surgeon says when we go for a consult.

[CarrieMF]

I was 13 when I had 3 baby teeth pulled for braces. I'm 34 & still terrified of the dentists because of when they pulled those teeth. I have to have an extraction done on a tooth that is loose & am petrified.

Let him do some research on his options & then let him choose what he wants to do.

[AmandasMom]

concious-sedation does work, I just had 3 root canals and an extraction last month and I didn't care at all during it or after.

I haven't been to the dentist in over 10 years because I was too afraid to, but now I'm not afraid at all and I still have more work to get done. Your son is older, he might be just fine with numbing and a little gas. I needed a bit more. I had a pill the night before, and 2 pills at the office, a little gas and that was it. I didn't have a drugged feeling, I just didn't care what they were doing. I could follow their commands with no problems.

My daughter, who is 10, had the whole extraction, head gear, braces thing, too. She also had an expander which I hated because I had to turn it each night and I felt like I was cracking her skull open.

adding: my kids when they were little had a ton of dental work done, they all had conscious sedation, too but they had some stuff to drink, no pills like me. They had extractions and caps and all that and are still fine about going to the dentist. They are 6 and 10 now.