no sedation for 20 month old tooth extractions?!?

[tess112501]

Hi everyone,

I took my DD to the dentist today after noticing that 2 of her teeth were chipped and starting to discolor. I had done a lot of research and suspected it was due to ECC. Low and behold, I was right, but was sadly too late. Two of her teeth are so badly chipped that they need to be pulled. The decay is quite advanced and we shouldn't wait too long. The thing that has me worried is that this particular pediatric dentist doesn't do sedation. He said they will wrap her in a restraining wrap (not a papoose board - sounds more like a straightjacket!), put her in the chair, give her novacaine, and pull the teeth. I don't know - sounds like torture to me! He said the whole procedure shouldn't last more than 15 minutes. He is wary of sedation because of possible side effects. Am I crazy to think this is too cruel to even contemplate? I am in the process of researching complications due to sedation. Does anyone have any knowledge of potential side effects? Or has anyone had a bad experience with sedation?

Any info you can share would be greatly appreciated. I just can't imagine my daughter going through something like this.

Thanks,
Theresa

[Peony]

3 year old dd fell last month and injured 2 of her teeth bad enough that they couldn't be fixed. We extracted them that am, granted they weren't in there that well from the accident. Sedation was not an option, the dentist used Novacaine to really numb the area, dd sat on my lap, he started to pull one, when dd raised up her hand, it turns out that she could still feel it. We had to start over again, both of her teeth were pulled in a matter of minutes, there was no crying, screaming during the extraction, dd just sat there on my lap. DD got very upset afterward when her mouth was bleeding everywhere, as soon as the bleeding slowed she calmed down. She has adjusted wonderfully.

We are facing oral sedation to fix 4 cavites she has. It is scary, any procedure with your child is scary. Anybody could have a potential side effect with any drug at any given time. I have issues with restraining children and will not use a papoose board or anything like that. My options with dd is to go in for 4 seperate appointments to fill each cavity one by one, or undergo oral sedation and do them all at once. We have choosen to take the latter approach.

If you are considering oral sedation I would interview a dentist that you are interested in and see what drug cocktail they would use. I am personally wary of Versaid and would not use it on my child in a office setting, many pediatric dentists like Versaid. There are many drug combos that can be used for oral sedation, and it would be best if you could research a specfic combo. Good luck.

[tess112501]

Thanks for your reply and insights. She is going for a second opinion next week, and then we'll decide for sure. I'm very wary the more I learn about sedation, but I am of course concerned about the trauma of undergoing the procedure while awake and aware.

Thanks again.

Theresa