Dentist uses Nitrous Oxide?

I had some kind of panic attack at the dentists while on nitrous as a
teenager ...never used it again!! I have had all my wisdom teeth pulled with
just novacaine. same with the root canal I had and any fillings.

Root canals are usually not particularly painful - by the time you
need one, the nerve is usually dead.

as a child we had a fillings done with nothing IIRC. Certainly not nitrous.
Do they need something for pain? ther aren't any nerves in babyteeth are
there?

YES!! Baby teeth most definitely have nerves. By the time they fall
out, no, because by then the root and nerve are long gone.

I had one filling done with no anesthesia other than nitrous. It was
shallow, and didn't penetrate much beyond the surface of the tooth,
and wasn't anywhere near the nerve, but it was still very
uncomfortable. Never again. I wouldn't force a little kid to have
that done. And doing so is likely to turn out a child who is scared
of the dentist, and won't be as willing to go.

PLEASE don't make little ones do it without some sort of anesthesia
(doesn't have to be nitrous - there are alternatives)

Cathy Weeks
Mommy to Kivi Alexis

Cathy Weeks wrote:

PLEASE don't make little ones do it
without some sort of anesthesia (doesn't
have to be nitrous - there are
alternatives)

We have an excellent ped dentist that all my boys have went to since the
oldest (almost 10) first went (aged 2). Middle boy.. (aged 1 at the
time) had a "double" baby tooth where his front tooth and a canine were
fused. Joey.. just a check-up since he was there ;-)

Bad baby teeth run on both sides of our family.. so we do the "every 6
months" thing.

I can think of only twice that the boys have _ever_ had to have
novacaine for fillings.. maybe it's the way our dentist "drills"? He
uses "magick dust" or sand to clean out the cavities and then fills
away.

The two older boys (9 and 6) have both had their tonsils out.. so when
the 6 yo got 2 teeth extracted=B9 this Summer it was no big deal. We
always tell them what's going to happen and how they might feel. No
fussing and they actually love going to him=B2. Even when the oldest
got a cap on his babytooth.. no problem!

Now I just went with a 9 yo. niece to the dentist... and she squealed
before anything even happened.. but her dentist and the assistant
sucked! Once the ass. said "If you don't stop fussing your Aunt will
have to leave the room". pppbbbt! If she couldn't get my niece to feel
more comfortable we would have left! As it was my niece preferred
getting her cavities done w/o novacine.. and the dentist remarked "oh,
yeah, she's had this done like this before" Doh! This same dentist had
to have another dentist come in to finish pulling the niece's tooth.. if
I had been with for that visit.. we wouldn't have returned.

Finding a good dentist can be tough.. I'm so happy with ours!

~misty
Danny, Andy and Joey

=B9 he had to have a baby tooth and a tooth bud cut out to allow the
adult tooth room to fall down correctly.. instead of straight out at you

=B2 it helps that not only is Dr.C very gentle and always explains
what's going to happen.. but he's drop dead gorgeous too ;-)

"iphigenia" wrote in message
...
Wendy Marsden wrote:
The pediatric dentist was talking about scheduling an OR for sometime
in the winter (months and months from now) to do all four fillings at
once. I'm disinclined to put my kid through general anasthesia
again. (Long story, but probably related to why he has such weirdly
horrible teeth: he had a traumatic illness and hospitalization 15
months ago.)

I'm thinking of finding a dentist that does NOT use nitrous oxide but
who will prescribe a valium before the visit. What do you think?

Are you concerned about all forms of being knocked out? My pediodontist
gives chloral hydrate to kids over 3.

After a few deaths that occurred within a short span of time, Kaiser stopped
filling any prescriptions for children for chloral hydrate written by
dentists. (The deaths weren't Kaiser related, but Kaiser didn't want to be
involved in one, either.) That was a few years ago, but I'm sure their
policy still stands. I would never let my child be sedated with chloral
hydrate outside a hospital setting.

On Wed, 10 Sep 2003 20:14:16 GMT, "Roger Schlafly"
wrote:

"Wendy Marsden" wrote
The pediatric dentist was talking about scheduling an OR for sometime in
the winter (months and months from now) to do all four fillings at

Get a new dentist. Do not pay any bill (since he didn't do the work
requested).

There is no need to use anasthesia or painkillers for simple fillings.
Just say no.

You, Roger, are an idiot.

I would really love seeing you try to put four fillings into a
four-year-old boy without anesthesia or "painkillers." Not only is it
excessively cruel, but dangerous.

Moron.

PF

On 10 Sep 2003 19:40:07 -0700, (Cathy Weeks)
wrote:

Jenn wrote in message ...

I can't believe they gas kids for simple dental procedures

years ago my young teen son had nitrous for an extraction -- I was
reluctant to allow it because I know nitrous is often abused as a drug
and I didn't want to introduce it to him -- I needn't have worried --
the effect was much as you describe for your child. my son had a sort
of nightmarish experience -- really miserable, anxious, depressed --
and swore he would never have the stuff again and didn't

Oh, my. Nitrous is relatively difficult to get for anyone but
healthcare providers, so I really wouldn't worry too much about.

Not in Australia it's not. It's a little known fact that the gas used
in whipped cream dispensers (the kind where you put the whipping cream
in and then use a bulb of gas to whip it) is nitrous oxide here. I
found out in high school when some of the boys in my class were using
it, it was only about $2.50 for 10 bulbs.

Why *not* use gas, if it has no lasting effects, and keeps the child
from getting scared? Most people don't have the wierd side effects
that you and the OP have described. And as a longer-term strategy, it
tends to turn out people who aren't scared of the dentist - which is
an incredible boon to dentistry.

Nitrous gives me really bad deja vu and I can see how that could
escalate into bigger problems for someone either younger or more
sensitive to it. The amount of oxygen in the mix and the type of mask
used can make a huge difference too. I think if it's possible to have
the dental procedure done without nitrous then that's the best option.


--
Cheryl
Mum to DS#1 (11 Mar 99), DS#2 (4 Oct 00)
and DD (30 Jul 02)

On Wed, 10 Sep 2003 22:58:48 -0500 (CDT), (misty)
wrote:

I can think of only twice that the boys have _ever_ had to have
novacaine for fillings.. maybe it's the way our dentist "drills"? He
uses "magick dust" or sand to clean out the cavities and then fills
away.

I think this is called micro abrasion and it's supposed to be
completely painless. I haven't personally had it but I saw the sign
up at my dentist's office last week. What I find the most painful
about having fillings isn't so much the drilling, its the pressure of
the filling being packed into the tooth. You need someone gentle to
do that.


--
Cheryl
Mum to DS#1 (11 Mar 99), DS#2 (4 Oct 00)
and DD (30 Jul 02)

Cheryl wrote:

On Wed, 10 Sep 2003 22:58:48 -0500 (CDT), (misty)
wrote:

I can think of only twice that the boys have _ever_ had to have
novacaine for fillings.. maybe it's the way our dentist "drills"? He
uses "magick dust" or sand to clean out the cavities and then fills
away.

I think this is called micro abrasion and it's supposed to be
completely painless. I haven't personally had it but I saw the sign
up at my dentist's office last week. What I find the most painful
about having fillings isn't so much the drilling, its the pressure of
the filling being packed into the tooth. You need someone gentle to
do that.

When I had my last filling the dentist was debating whether to use
novacaine or not. It was shallow. But because of its location (close to
the gumline?), he thought I might have some pain, so gave me novacaine.
As a child, I never had a cavity filled without novacaine, so I was
thinking they had a new technique. Whatever he did, was really
quick, though.

Mary

Wendy Marsden wrote:

The damn dentist threw us out. So much for pediatric dentists knowing
how to work with kids! He offered no solution beyond we'll try again on
Monday. Meanwhile, this dentist is a 45 minute drive from my home, he
isn't a preferred provider in my insurance plan and he thinks I've caused
my son's mouth problems through neglect (which just isn't true.)

Wendy, if I were you I would definitely NOT return to that man. My
father is a dentist, and I have seen what trauma it can cause in
people if they are treated like that as young children. Please go
and find a pediatric dentist who knows how to deal with children.

It sounds to me that your son may have some generic problem, e.g.
in some people the tooth enamel is very thin and causes lots of
cavities even with proper oral care. You want a dentist that takes
all of these things into account and trusts you if you tell that
you take good care, and not one that immediately blames it on you.

Perhaps your family dentist has another suggestion for you?

--
-- I
mommy to DS (14m)
guardian of DH
EDD 05-17-2004
War doesn't decide who's right - only who's left

In article ,
"JoAnna" wrote:

"Wendy Marsden" wrote in message
...
My four year old finally, FINALLY got his dentist visit today, four months
after an x-ray showed a startling five cavities. Our dentist promptly
referred us to a pediatric dentist, saying she wasn't set up to do that
much work on a small kid. The pediatric dentist fit us in for an initial
exam and a teeth cleaning, but couldn't get us an appointment to treat him
until today.

Things started out fine, everyone was cheerful and no one was scared or
anxious. He got in the chair and was laughing and fine. But five minutes
into the nitrous oxide he suddenly started whimpering and curling up and
got clingy and weepy and scared. I wasn't able to figure out what was
causing the anxiety - I really think it was a reaction to the nitrous
oxide. The dentist just thought I had a wimpy boy that I babied - which
wouldn't be a crime if I did, but that doesn't happen to be the case.

The damn dentist threw us out. So much for pediatric dentists knowing
how to work with kids! He offered no solution beyond we'll try again on
Monday. Meanwhile, this dentist is a 45 minute drive from my home, he
isn't a preferred provider in my insurance plan and he thinks I've caused
my son's mouth problems through neglect (which just isn't true.)

The pediatric dentist was talking about scheduling an OR for sometime in
the winter (months and months from now) to do all four fillings at
once. I'm disinclined to put my kid through general anasthesia
again. (Long story, but probably related to why he has such weirdly
horrible teeth: he had a traumatic illness and hospitalization 15 months
ago.)

I'm thinking of finding a dentist that does NOT use nitrous oxide but who
will prescribe a valium before the visit. What do you think?

-- Wendy

I had some kind of panic attack at the dentists while on nitrous as a
teenager ...never used it again!! I have had all my wisdom teeth pulled with
just novacaine. same with the root canal I had and any fillings.

as a child we had a fillings done with nothing IIRC. Certainly not nitrous.
Do they need something for pain? ther aren't any nerves in babyteeth are
there?



many people think baby teeth don't have nerves or roots because when
they are pushed out the roots have been dissolved by the permanent teeth
coming below -- baby teeth are just like permanent teeth - roots and all
-- [otherwise they would fall out from chewing] and they hurt just like
regular teeth

however if the cavity is deep, a local can be used -- there is no need
for a general anesthetic for simple dental care

In article ,
(Cathy Weeks) wrote:

I had some kind of panic attack at the dentists while on nitrous as a
teenager ...never used it again!! I have had all my wisdom teeth pulled with
just novacaine. same with the root canal I had and any fillings.

Root canals are usually not particularly painful - by the time you
need one, the nerve is usually dead.

LOL usually a root canal is done when the tooth is highly inflamed,
often infected -- they are excruciatingly painful


as a child we had a fillings done with nothing IIRC. Certainly not nitrous.
Do they need something for pain? ther aren't any nerves in babyteeth are
there?

YES!! Baby teeth most definitely have nerves. By the time they fall
out, no, because by then the root and nerve are long gone.

I had one filling done with no anesthesia other than nitrous. It was
shallow, and didn't penetrate much beyond the surface of the tooth,
and wasn't anywhere near the nerve, but it was still very
uncomfortable. Never again. I wouldn't force a little kid to have
that done. And doing so is likely to turn out a child who is scared
of the dentist, and won't be as willing to go.

PLEASE don't make little ones do it without some sort of anesthesia
(doesn't have to be nitrous - there are alternatives)

Cathy Weeks
Mommy to Kivi Alexis