General anesthesia = bad? Help me understand why please.

[zjande]

I see this mentioned in many places but haven't found an explanation for why. Could you clue me in? Thanks!

The dentist wants to put my 17 mo old under general anesthesia for about 2 hours & do all sorts of horrific work. The GA does not sit well with me (let alone all the horrific work!) so I'm trying to understand more.

[Ilovum]

All I can tell you is that this was also recommended for our 4 yr old son and I'm not doin' it. We're working right now on healing his teeth with nutrition. He had 7 cavities, supposedly. She couldn't even x-ray the molars too well and there are two teeth that have brown spots on them, but I think they're stains, so did a hygienist we saw who worked for another dentist. He's supposed to go back on the 25th for fillings and she suggested GA if he can't sit through his fillings. If he can tolerate it, then we'll get them filled, if he can't, we'll continue with what we're doing and try again when he's a little older.

I think GA is too risky for us. If it were something threatening his life or a broken bone, etc., then we'd do it, but not for small cavities like these.

I say, follow your heart and do what you feel is best as a mother..