|
Question:
I have a 2 1/2 year old who needs extensive dental work. Something like 4 caps on his upper left teeth, a filling on one of his molars and another filling to repair a weak area in one of his bottom teeth. The original dentist we saw was going to do this work under IV sedation in a hospital.
Due to the fact that she can't get to him for another 3 months and it only took 3 months for his tooth to go from a tiny pinhole to being half gone, we have decided to consult another dentist who can get him in earlier. This particular dentist doesn't do any work in a hospital and never knocks his patients out. They said they use only nitrous oxide and some kind of injectable sedative.
I am wondering which is best. I know it is scary to have them totally sedate him, but I also don't want this to be a totally traumatic experience for him either. Just wondering what your take on this would be? Thank you.
Answer:
With regards to sedation on children, the doctor doing this treatment must
have a special credential in anesthesia to do this. We use to be able to
treat children with oral medications but this law has been changed.
It sounds like the dentist you are planning to see has this licence to sedate children. The best bet is to use a pediatric specialist who is trained in this area. Reinforce that the proper credintials are in place and use your best judgement. If my 3 year old needed this care, I would wait to see a pediatric specialist (just my personal bias). Hope this helps
Editorial Staff
Return to Sedation FAQ
Return to FAQ Index
You also have the option of using Google search technology to conduct a specific search within our databases to find more specific information. Use key words or short phrases:
|
|
