'Mass'? And minimum age for IV sedation in children?

[Snowball]

My 14 year old has just completed a year's worth of orthodontics and he now has a film star smile. Quite an achievement when you know he's autistic and also has had a bad dental phobia, which came on after a bad experience with a dentist 4 years ago, my GP had recommended ('I go to him and he's brilliant' - daresay GP got the 5 star treatment as five minutes in that dentist's chair left my now 14 and 13 yr olds who previously had no fear of the dentist whatsoever, with phobias). For his braces, my son only had to have one tooth out, and he managed with a bit of luck behind us and the kids' new dentist who was forewarned about the autism and phobia and somehow coped with it.

Anyway, upshot is my son's teeth are perfect - for now. But his X Rays showed up what the dental hospital called 'a mass' in the gum, where one of the wisdom teeth should be. They think it's dodgy and we'll need to keep an eye on it, and it almost definitely will have to be extracted as some future date when it erupts. He's only 14. But I'm not sure when wisdom teeth come through? Anyway, despite his recent success at the dentist and orthodontist, he still is a little phobic and the thought of another extraction is upsetting to him.

By the time this 'mass' comes through - will he be old enough for IV sedation? I'm thinking if I have a good experience with this private dentist who specialises in phobics, then I will take him to her when the time comes.

What age does a young person need to be, to have IV sedation? And also, what do they mean by 'mass'? They nmade it sound like some freaky elephant man of a tooth... what on earth is it? And could it turn out to be a 'normal' wisdom tooth anyway - or is a 'mass' on an X Ray never a normal tooth?

I feel so sad for him as he's come through so much and been braver than I could ever be, and I talked him into the orthodontics, telling him he'd probably never need anything major doing again if he had his teeth straightened. (The good part of being autistic is he's quite obsessive so when they say have your retainer in for 8 hours - he puts it in to the second! And when they told him how to brush his teeth, etc, he memorised it and does it all like clockwork, 3 times a day!

 

[mikey]

I'm thinking wisdom teeth normally dont come in till around 17-19 but im not 100% on that. I had my first iv sedation at around 13 or 14 so i dont think there is an age limit unless they are like 8 and under.. another thing im not really sure.

 

[Gordon]

A mass tends to just mean that instead of forming a tooth, the tooth bud has just formed itself into a disorganised lump of hard tissue. Nothing sinister about it, these things do just happen from time to time.

Normal eruption age for 3rd molars in boys is 18-21, which is a suitable age for IV sedation, however, the effects can be a wee bit unpredictable in folks with autistic spectrum disorder. (Sometimes causes stimulation instead of sedation)

However the one thing predictable about ASD is how unpredictable it is! I'm afraid the best advice is to wait and see what happens when your son gets to the age where something needs done about it.

It's also possible that the mass may need a GA to remove it, simply because the operation might be a bit too complex for anyone to sit stoically through with local alone...

 

[Snowball]

Ah, thanks Gordon and Mikey. That's very interesting about ASDs and sedation - all sorts of neurological fun going on there the minute you introduce drugs. Gordon, your advice makes me think when the time comes I'll probably push for GA for him.