UPDATE: severe dental anxiety

[Guest guest]

thanks for all the suggestions but the oral meds for sedation didnt work. his oral defensiveness prevailed as did his anxiety. he went totally balistic when they brought out the med. it was so minute only about one tsp but he has so much fear he was unable for us to even try to give it to him. i was not going to force him and hold him down. i will not do that. so we will do IV sedation in december. its not general anesthesia but he will have and iv. i guess they call it conscious sedation but he will prob be asleep. it costs a lot but will only need to hapen every two years. the dentist does deal with lots of autism kids so she was used to this and was very patient and calm. me not so much. i had a little break down while checking out. but am better now. its so hard to keep composure with kids like this. Sent from my iPhone

My son was the same way when he was young. He had to have so much dental work (due to the abnormal mineral transport caused by mercury poisoning) His baby teeth demineralized. His body was sucking calcium out of his teeth -- at least this is the best way I know how to explain what happened.

He had to go to the operating room and be put under anesthesia. I hated having to give him any drugs of that type (though I will say they gave him versed first and what ensued was rather funny.... I mean it was hard not to laugh. He kept shouting, "My butt's all better! My butt's all better!" I think because he had spent his childhood to that point fighting debilitating constipation).

Anyway, then they took him to the OR and put him under anesthesia and got everything done. If we had not found out about the Grotto's Foundation I don't know how we would have paid for everything insurance didn't cover. They will pick up anything insurance doesn't cover until the child's eighteen for a special needs child. Grotto's does not cover orthodontia and some other stuff but it does cover necessary things for dental.

Him coming out of the anesthesia was the worst. He cried and cried and threw up and gagged. That was hard to get through, but if your child has extreme anxiety and they need a lot of dental work, then what can you do? We went to several dentists first and then found the Dental Clinic at Children's Medical Center. They treat special needs kids, and they have alwasy been very good with our son. His anxiety had to do with even lying on his back. Now he sits in the chair and lets them do what they need to do. We do not allow fluoride treatments. I make a paste of 12.5 mg iodine (Iodoral) tablet and brush it on his teeth. This is one of the best deterrents to tooth decay (besides disdaining sweets and brushing and flossing).

I wouldnot recommend laughing gas. You can go to this web site:http://www.child-autism-parent-cafe.com/autism-and-dental-anesthesia.html

I am not saying I agree with everything said at this site, for example the anesthesiologist says no drug is known to worsen autism, and I strongly disagree with that. I think there is just too much doctors and dentists don't understand abut autism, but this page can give you an idea of what they give to a child such as yours.

I would suggest that you see if if your city has a Children's hospital. They will usually have different clinics, including a dental clinic. These clinics usually specialize in dental for special needs kids. Also go to:

http://www.hfgrotto.org/They have added the hf to their name as I think they were getting confused with another foundation by the name of Grotto. Anyway, for us, this foundation was a life saver.

Hope this information helps you. We have been there. My son once had to have a benign tumor removed from his shoulder and the surgeon wanted him to lie on his back, and I kept explaining to him that my son was terrified of lying on his back, and the surgeon just wouldn't listen. We finally wound up doing it the way I said to do it, with my son in my lap on top of the table with me hugging him. I got to watch the whole surgery. Interesting. There just aren't enough doctors or dentists out there yet who "get it." Let's face it, they spend less than fifteen minutes tudying autism in medical school. It goes like this:

They are "taught" it is a NEUROLOGICAL disorder and a PSYCHIATRIC disorder. They tell them "we" don't know what causes it AND that it CANNOT be cured or even healed. There is NO discussion of vaccines role in autism other than to say that people who believe this are crazy. Dentists are taught that amalgam fillings play no role in mercury poisoning.

There is NO discussion of the biological implications of this disorder, and it is the biological and biochemical dysfunctions that produce the BEHAVIORS of autism. That is all autism really points to: BEHAVIORS. The truth is that this is an iatrogenic biological disorder.