H
HeatherD
Junior member
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2012
- Messages
- 2
I'll also post this in the kids' forum but I wanted to ask dentists this question directly. My 8 year old daughter has extreme anxiety about dental work. We took her to a dental office to have 7 fillings put in under general anesthesia but when she sat in the chair and that gas mask came at her, she freaked out. We had tried to be positive and prepare her, but she went crazy. She was crying and terrified when the anesthesiologist put the mask on. He seemed to want me to help hold it on her but she was too upset. We let her get up and take some deep breaths but then she wouldn't get back in the chair. My husband and I ended up trying to force her back into the chair--she was thrashing and screaming. It was HORRIBLE but at the moment I kept thinking that if we could just get some gas in her, she'd fall asleep and be fine. We tried for maybe ten minutes but she was too strong. The dentist and anesthesiologist were standing there the whole time, offering no other alternatives. It was a horrible experience. A day later, I am furious that these "professionals" didn't offer other solutions and that they seemed to want us to force her into the chair. I really regret trying to do that. I'm afraid we've really scarred her. And now I also think that forcing a screaming, crying, terrified kid to undergo general anesthesia can't be safe. What if she threw up from the trauma or had throat spasms or something? I'm also angry because a year and a half earlier, she'd been under general for fillings but they gave her a shot in the arm first that knocked her out before using the general anesthesia. That way, she didn't have to deal with the mask. We switched to this dentist because he is a lot closer to us. I just didn't realize how important that shot would be. He doesn't offer it in his office. I feel strongly that no anesthesiologist should encourage parents to physically force a child into treatment. And he should have offered another option. We were also under pressure because general is very expensive and we had already paid a huge deposit. We may end up taking her to a hospital for the procedure since they can give her a shot to sedate her first. But she is already talking about how scared she is. Any advice? Thanks!