My DD who is 3.5 has 3 cavities and a back, bottom molar that needs to be capped. The molar had been chipped a while back, and when we went to the dentist she said it was because the tooth has poor enamel - something that is from when she was a baby in the womb. A return trip to the dentist a few months later for a regular cleaning and checkup shows development of cavities including that molar that had been chipped. Since the enamel is so poor they recommend a cap, since the enamel would not hold a filling indefinitely. And since the molars don't fall out til around 12, the cap is the best recommendation.
Anyway, IV sedation is recommended - they have a dental anesthesiologist they work with that stays and monitors the entire time. I am still nervous, of course, and looking for other parents with similar experiences. She has lots of food allergies and I know I will need to discuss this to make sure she doesn't take a medication she reacts to. If you've been through IV sedation with a toddler, what was it like, what medication was used?
We were very fortunate and never had that situation.
I would be very nervous as well. My first step would be to get a 2nd and maybe 3rd opinion from highly recommended pediatric dentists. If they STILL recommended this method, I would opt to spend even more $$$ to have it done in a hospital.
I would use a dentist at a children’s hospital.
My daughter needed dental surgery a few years ago. She had so many things that needed to be done, the dentist felt sedating her and doing it all at once would be better and less traumatic than multiple appointments where she would have trouble sitting still for so long appointment after appointment. We agreed. But it was done at a surgery center, not the dentist office. I never would have allowed her to be sedated at the dentist office.
The surgery was a success and she did just fine. I would suggest you request the procedure be done at a hospital or surgery center. Good luck
My son had the same thing with his teeth. He needed multiple caps and fillings at about the same age. I was nervous about the sedation but he did fine. It's so much harder to do it without it. He does not remember it at all. We had no issues at all.
Go get a second opinion!!
Go to your local university that has a dental school and ask them for a second opinion.
Do the sedation. A good pediatric dentist will always suggest this so he can go in, get all the work done in minutes, and not have to worry about your child fighting him or chomping down or anything.
They do NOT do well with the gas sedation. Our boy got tubes in his ears with gas and he woke up a screaming banshee. The nurses told us all the little ones wake up like that. They usually don't let the parents in the room until the kiddo has stopped the screaming.
SO do the IV stuff and let the doc get his work done.
I would not let a toddler be sedated in a dentist office. One of our kids had anesthesia for ear tubes, but done in a hospital, of course. I, myself, have IV sedation at a dentist office for certain procedures, but would never allow my children do it (unless they were an adult).
My dad worked as an RN Anesthetist for nearly 50 years. He said you are never closer to death than when you are sedated. He was fully aware of everything that could go wrong during sedation and HE would never have let any of his grandkids be sedated in a dentist office, where they do not have the resources to draw from if something goes wrong.
We did extensive work on our 3 boys that we adopted from Russia (and had never even seen a toothbrush so you can only imagine what we faced) starting at age 4 including extractions, caps, spacers, fillings, etc. None of them were sedated. We did it using gas/Novocaine and in small chunks over many appointments. None of them are scared to go to the dentist based on that experience and they are now 16, 18, and 20.
Good luck.
One of mine had this done and while I was nervous, it went really smoothly. The pediatric dentist that I used did not use an IV sedative. They put a sedative in an apple juice, he drank it, and in about 15 minutes he was dosing while I sat with him. I held his hand while he walked back to the chair, and then he had nitrous oxide (laughing gas) by an anesthesiologist that put him to sleep during the procedure. He was monitored throughout. When it was done, he woke up, was hungry (no food before was allowed). I had brought some applesauce for him to eat there before we left because I knew he would be starved. He was sleepy the rest of the day, took a longer nap than usual, and then was completely back to normal.
This was done in a pediatric dentist's office who was recommended by my family dentist.
Our son had to have surgery when he was 10 months old - not dental, but he was under general anesthesia. His doctor told us that he only works with pediatric anesthesiologists and that a child under general anesthesia with a pediatric anesthesiologist is safer than an adult under general anesthesia.
I don't know if a sedation iv is the same as general anesthesia, but do think it is worth a conversation.
Also, are you talking to a pediatric dentist or a general dentist. My older son goes to our family dentist, and we are absolutely ok with that. Our younger son has autism, and he goes to a pediatric dentist. Huge difference! The pediatric dentist does so many little things here and there that make a huge difference to kids. He really knows and understands kids with special needs.
My point is, this sounds like a special case where you might feel amazingly better about any decision if you were working specifically with a pediatric dentist. If you haven't already consulted on, this might be the time to do so.
I would get a second opinion and if it must be done I would only do in a hospital.
My younger son has had iv sedation several times, three times for having teeth pulled and twice for surgeries. It has always been fine. But it was never just as the dental office, it was an oral surgery office where they handle sedation all of the time.
I would however question if a cap is really necessary on a baby tooth. I was told I needed a cap when I essentially busted the entire middle and back out of a tooth but I couldn't afford it so they did the filling degradedly saying it would never last. That first filling lasted 20 years and just recently had to be partially redone.
