OT: Sedation for kids during dental visit

[Eugene]

I can’t imagine taking my 3 year old to a dentist without sedation. No way he’s going to sit still and calm while some stranger is trying to drill holes in his mouth.

The choice of demerol is strange. It’s a painkiller, not a sedative. Nitrous oxide or valium would make more sense.

[Coronita]

[quote=gn]UCGal, I took him to a pediatric dentist b/c I figured the dental office would be more appealing to children.

I just talked to the dentist. Novacaine will be used to numb his mouth. The plan is to have the dentist work on one quadrant of the mouth during each visit.

Thanks to everyone for the responses.[/quote]

See if you can get him/her to identify whether he/she is going to do novacaine on the entire side of the cheek or is it going to be a local shot at the tooth(teeth) with the cavity.

The one at the cheek basically makes one side of your face numb, and as a kid I’m sure that feel would suck. Novacaine at the shot(s) near the tooth/teeth would cause more pain on the initial shot but your kid won’t have to deal with a numbed cheek afterwords. It depends on the extent of the cavity i guess.

Good luck.

[Coronita]

[quote=gn]UCGal, I took him to a pediatric dentist b/c I figured the dental office would be more appealing to children.

I just talked to the dentist. Novacaine will be used to numb his mouth. The plan is to have the dentist work on one quadrant of the mouth during each visit.

Thanks to everyone for the responses.[/quote]

See if you can get him/her to identify whether he/she is going to do novacaine on the entire side of the cheek or is it going to be a local shot at the tooth(teeth) with the cavity.

The one at the cheek basically makes one side of your face numb, and as a kid I’m sure that feel would suck. Novacaine at the shot(s) near the tooth/teeth would cause more pain on the initial shot but your kid won’t have to deal with a numbed cheek afterwords. It depends on the extent of the cavity i guess.

Good luck.

[Coronita]

[quote=gn]UCGal, I took him to a pediatric dentist b/c I figured the dental office would be more appealing to children.

I just talked to the dentist. Novacaine will be used to numb his mouth. The plan is to have the dentist work on one quadrant of the mouth during each visit.

Thanks to everyone for the responses.[/quote]

See if you can get him/her to identify whether he/she is going to do novacaine on the entire side of the cheek or is it going to be a local shot at the tooth(teeth) with the cavity.

The one at the cheek basically makes one side of your face numb, and as a kid I’m sure that feel would suck. Novacaine at the shot(s) near the tooth/teeth would cause more pain on the initial shot but your kid won’t have to deal with a numbed cheek afterwords. It depends on the extent of the cavity i guess.

Good luck.

[Coronita]

[quote=gn]UCGal, I took him to a pediatric dentist b/c I figured the dental office would be more appealing to children.

I just talked to the dentist. Novacaine will be used to numb his mouth. The plan is to have the dentist work on one quadrant of the mouth during each visit.

Thanks to everyone for the responses.[/quote]

See if you can get him/her to identify whether he/she is going to do novacaine on the entire side of the cheek or is it going to be a local shot at the tooth(teeth) with the cavity.

The one at the cheek basically makes one side of your face numb, and as a kid I’m sure that feel would suck. Novacaine at the shot(s) near the tooth/teeth would cause more pain on the initial shot but your kid won’t have to deal with a numbed cheek afterwords. It depends on the extent of the cavity i guess.

Good luck.

[Coronita]

[quote=gn]UCGal, I took him to a pediatric dentist b/c I figured the dental office would be more appealing to children.

I just talked to the dentist. Novacaine will be used to numb his mouth. The plan is to have the dentist work on one quadrant of the mouth during each visit.

Thanks to everyone for the responses.[/quote]

See if you can get him/her to identify whether he/she is going to do novacaine on the entire side of the cheek or is it going to be a local shot at the tooth(teeth) with the cavity.

The one at the cheek basically makes one side of your face numb, and as a kid I’m sure that feel would suck. Novacaine at the shot(s) near the tooth/teeth would cause more pain on the initial shot but your kid won’t have to deal with a numbed cheek afterwords. It depends on the extent of the cavity i guess.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it’s true. Kids under 5 are extremely difficult as patients. They will not sit still, they don’t like anything being close to their face, and they are harmful to themselves b/c they jerk and move during dental treatment. It’s even worse when the parent’s are with the child. Don’t ask me why I have no clue. I would trust your pediatric dentist. Demerol is usually given in pre-treatment doses of 1.0-2.2 mg/kg of body weight, not to exceed 100mg total. I think this answer’s your necessary question. If not, try a test run and have a stranger/friend place your child on your kitchen table and turn on some bright lights, use some strange gloves, shiny tools in both hands, place something on his/her nose, and approach his/her mouth with all these crazy things. I doubt when I was 3, I sat still either! : )

To answer a couple of other questions, sedation (Demorol) w/nitrous oxide (laughing gas) works best. Nitrous Oxide increases the child’s pain threshold and decreases anxiety. The actual Lidocaine (shot) will numb the nerves which innervate their teeth. Also, the number one post operative problem with kids is cheek chewing trauma from being numb. They like to chew on their lips and cheek when it’s numb and are too young to understand. So monitor them until their mouth wakes up. It’s also necessary on the lower jaw to numb one side of the face, but on the upper jaw, only the tooth that needs treatment can be numbed. It all has to do w/anatomy of our nerves in our jaw.

So for kids under 5, it is usually recommended to use a form of sedation w/laughing gas and lidocaine. They child won’t leave the laughing gas on their face if they are too young, it scares them. These are some of the main reasons that General Dentists will refer kids under 5 to a specialist (Pediatric Dentist) if anything more than an exam is required. Would you want to be the Dr.’s office for treatment while a child is yelling and screaming b/c he/she is scared of the laughing gas nose? Doubtful. Not a good practice builder. ; )

Dr. D.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it’s true. Kids under 5 are extremely difficult as patients. They will not sit still, they don’t like anything being close to their face, and they are harmful to themselves b/c they jerk and move during dental treatment. It’s even worse when the parent’s are with the child. Don’t ask me why I have no clue. I would trust your pediatric dentist. Demerol is usually given in pre-treatment doses of 1.0-2.2 mg/kg of body weight, not to exceed 100mg total. I think this answer’s your necessary question. If not, try a test run and have a stranger/friend place your child on your kitchen table and turn on some bright lights, use some strange gloves, shiny tools in both hands, place something on his/her nose, and approach his/her mouth with all these crazy things. I doubt when I was 3, I sat still either! : )

To answer a couple of other questions, sedation (Demorol) w/nitrous oxide (laughing gas) works best. Nitrous Oxide increases the child’s pain threshold and decreases anxiety. The actual Lidocaine (shot) will numb the nerves which innervate their teeth. Also, the number one post operative problem with kids is cheek chewing trauma from being numb. They like to chew on their lips and cheek when it’s numb and are too young to understand. So monitor them until their mouth wakes up. It’s also necessary on the lower jaw to numb one side of the face, but on the upper jaw, only the tooth that needs treatment can be numbed. It all has to do w/anatomy of our nerves in our jaw.

So for kids under 5, it is usually recommended to use a form of sedation w/laughing gas and lidocaine. They child won’t leave the laughing gas on their face if they are too young, it scares them. These are some of the main reasons that General Dentists will refer kids under 5 to a specialist (Pediatric Dentist) if anything more than an exam is required. Would you want to be the Dr.’s office for treatment while a child is yelling and screaming b/c he/she is scared of the laughing gas nose? Doubtful. Not a good practice builder. ; )

Dr. D.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it’s true. Kids under 5 are extremely difficult as patients. They will not sit still, they don’t like anything being close to their face, and they are harmful to themselves b/c they jerk and move during dental treatment. It’s even worse when the parent’s are with the child. Don’t ask me why I have no clue. I would trust your pediatric dentist. Demerol is usually given in pre-treatment doses of 1.0-2.2 mg/kg of body weight, not to exceed 100mg total. I think this answer’s your necessary question. If not, try a test run and have a stranger/friend place your child on your kitchen table and turn on some bright lights, use some strange gloves, shiny tools in both hands, place something on his/her nose, and approach his/her mouth with all these crazy things. I doubt when I was 3, I sat still either! : )

To answer a couple of other questions, sedation (Demorol) w/nitrous oxide (laughing gas) works best. Nitrous Oxide increases the child’s pain threshold and decreases anxiety. The actual Lidocaine (shot) will numb the nerves which innervate their teeth. Also, the number one post operative problem with kids is cheek chewing trauma from being numb. They like to chew on their lips and cheek when it’s numb and are too young to understand. So monitor them until their mouth wakes up. It’s also necessary on the lower jaw to numb one side of the face, but on the upper jaw, only the tooth that needs treatment can be numbed. It all has to do w/anatomy of our nerves in our jaw.

So for kids under 5, it is usually recommended to use a form of sedation w/laughing gas and lidocaine. They child won’t leave the laughing gas on their face if they are too young, it scares them. These are some of the main reasons that General Dentists will refer kids under 5 to a specialist (Pediatric Dentist) if anything more than an exam is required. Would you want to be the Dr.’s office for treatment while a child is yelling and screaming b/c he/she is scared of the laughing gas nose? Doubtful. Not a good practice builder. ; )

Dr. D.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it’s true. Kids under 5 are extremely difficult as patients. They will not sit still, they don’t like anything being close to their face, and they are harmful to themselves b/c they jerk and move during dental treatment. It’s even worse when the parent’s are with the child. Don’t ask me why I have no clue. I would trust your pediatric dentist. Demerol is usually given in pre-treatment doses of 1.0-2.2 mg/kg of body weight, not to exceed 100mg total. I think this answer’s your necessary question. If not, try a test run and have a stranger/friend place your child on your kitchen table and turn on some bright lights, use some strange gloves, shiny tools in both hands, place something on his/her nose, and approach his/her mouth with all these crazy things. I doubt when I was 3, I sat still either! : )

To answer a couple of other questions, sedation (Demorol) w/nitrous oxide (laughing gas) works best. Nitrous Oxide increases the child’s pain threshold and decreases anxiety. The actual Lidocaine (shot) will numb the nerves which innervate their teeth. Also, the number one post operative problem with kids is cheek chewing trauma from being numb. They like to chew on their lips and cheek when it’s numb and are too young to understand. So monitor them until their mouth wakes up. It’s also necessary on the lower jaw to numb one side of the face, but on the upper jaw, only the tooth that needs treatment can be numbed. It all has to do w/anatomy of our nerves in our jaw.

So for kids under 5, it is usually recommended to use a form of sedation w/laughing gas and lidocaine. They child won’t leave the laughing gas on their face if they are too young, it scares them. These are some of the main reasons that General Dentists will refer kids under 5 to a specialist (Pediatric Dentist) if anything more than an exam is required. Would you want to be the Dr.’s office for treatment while a child is yelling and screaming b/c he/she is scared of the laughing gas nose? Doubtful. Not a good practice builder. ; )

Dr. D.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it’s true. Kids under 5 are extremely difficult as patients. They will not sit still, they don’t like anything being close to their face, and they are harmful to themselves b/c they jerk and move during dental treatment. It’s even worse when the parent’s are with the child. Don’t ask me why I have no clue. I would trust your pediatric dentist. Demerol is usually given in pre-treatment doses of 1.0-2.2 mg/kg of body weight, not to exceed 100mg total. I think this answer’s your necessary question. If not, try a test run and have a stranger/friend place your child on your kitchen table and turn on some bright lights, use some strange gloves, shiny tools in both hands, place something on his/her nose, and approach his/her mouth with all these crazy things. I doubt when I was 3, I sat still either! : )

To answer a couple of other questions, sedation (Demorol) w/nitrous oxide (laughing gas) works best. Nitrous Oxide increases the child’s pain threshold and decreases anxiety. The actual Lidocaine (shot) will numb the nerves which innervate their teeth. Also, the number one post operative problem with kids is cheek chewing trauma from being numb. They like to chew on their lips and cheek when it’s numb and are too young to understand. So monitor them until their mouth wakes up. It’s also necessary on the lower jaw to numb one side of the face, but on the upper jaw, only the tooth that needs treatment can be numbed. It all has to do w/anatomy of our nerves in our jaw.

So for kids under 5, it is usually recommended to use a form of sedation w/laughing gas and lidocaine. They child won’t leave the laughing gas on their face if they are too young, it scares them. These are some of the main reasons that General Dentists will refer kids under 5 to a specialist (Pediatric Dentist) if anything more than an exam is required. Would you want to be the Dr.’s office for treatment while a child is yelling and screaming b/c he/she is scared of the laughing gas nose? Doubtful. Not a good practice builder. ; )

Dr. D.

[Ricechex]

Dr. D is the greatest! Too bad you don’t live in SD, you would have many Piggs as clients. The flouridated is a toss up…some say that it is a scam to kill us with cancer. I grew up with flouridated water, no cavities, perfect teeth, but bad gums. My parents had many cavities. I am in my 40’s.

[Ricechex]

Dr. D is the greatest! Too bad you don’t live in SD, you would have many Piggs as clients. The flouridated is a toss up…some say that it is a scam to kill us with cancer. I grew up with flouridated water, no cavities, perfect teeth, but bad gums. My parents had many cavities. I am in my 40’s.

[Ricechex]

Dr. D is the greatest! Too bad you don’t live in SD, you would have many Piggs as clients. The flouridated is a toss up…some say that it is a scam to kill us with cancer. I grew up with flouridated water, no cavities, perfect teeth, but bad gums. My parents had many cavities. I am in my 40’s.

[Ricechex]

Dr. D is the greatest! Too bad you don’t live in SD, you would have many Piggs as clients. The flouridated is a toss up…some say that it is a scam to kill us with cancer. I grew up with flouridated water, no cavities, perfect teeth, but bad gums. My parents had many cavities. I am in my 40’s.

[Author]

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