General Anesthetic for 6yr old dental work, advice please?

no1catman

Were you shown the X-rays - to show how bad the teeth were?

Having, teeth out can be a traumatic time via a (local) injection, with all that pushing, twisting, and pulling as an adult. In some ways having the 'gas' at the Dentist when I was a youngster, seems a better option!
So, GA, what's the problem.

shellsuit

My daughter had her 4 front top teeth out when she was 3, at the hospital, with gas.

floss2

As you were advised at the start of the thread - consult your dentist and be guided by their advice. They will know what they are talking about as they have seen your child's teeth.

Bunnie1982

I'm an adult and have had to have a broken tooth extracted today. It wasn't a pleasant experience to say the least as the root of the tooth had hooked on to the jaw.

If I was given the option, I would've had it done under GA, as generally it is so invasive and the dentist really had to use quite a bit of force to get it out.

Tropez

I had an accident as a kid - I was a little older than yours at the time - and had to have a tooth removed. This was done under local anaesthetic. It was hell. I would have knocked myself unconscious for it if I'd known how.

You should trust the doctors at the hospital. They know what they're doing and they have done this before and will do it again.

plumtreebabe

I had to have all four of my wisdom teeth out by GA as an adult - I would have been happy to have them out with a local but the dentist said that as we would have to clamp my jaw open far more than would be comfortable for me with a local (and then hinted at even more gory/distressing details - he was a bit of a comedian!) he couldn't do it. The GA was fine.

lindseykim13

Thanks for all the replies, i appreciate medical advice shouldn't be given i was just looking for peoples experiences and any alternitives that have been offered. I know deep down that it will be kinder in the long run just that it is very scary to give your child over for something which has any risk involved.
I know having that many bad teeth sounds bad and i feel awful for it but he has always had his teeth cleaned for him and i never suspected that there was that much of a problem. I knew one had a hole but 8! I was totally shocked although i suspect they are taking any out that have any sort of hole at all so we can have a clean slate.
My older son has had 2 teeth out and 1 filling but he is nearly 9 so i never expected this as i've treated them both the same.

Ms_Chocaholic

Are you sure that the teeth are being extracted because they are decayed ... when I was young I had about 8 or so teeth extracted at once but that was because of overcrowding, not sure whether they still do that.

Had them all out at the dentists too and, although I now can't remember much about it now, I'm now terrified of the dentists. If a GA prevents that then I think it's a good thing.

pigpen

Other than the guilt you will have at so many teeth having to be removed.. even if it is some structural issue.. you should have faith in the dental surgeons..

2 of my children have had multiple teeth out.. DD1 had 3 out under GS at the hospital and DS2 had 4 out. They have enamel hypoplasia which causes pitted or gaps in tooth enamel.. inherited from me, and I got it from my dad. A lot of our back teeth came through with gaps in the enamel where it had simply not formed properly.

They went in at 9am and were out by about 1pm .. no stress.

When I was 6 I was pinned down and forcibly gassed and had one tooth removed.. I have the most incredible phobia now I have 4 teeth to be removed and 1 in need of filling (which will shatter my tooth and it will need to come out too) and I cannot even think about going.

I insist the children go regularly for check ups and any treatment is then minor.

ETA.. DS3 had 3 out due to overcrowding.. his permanent teeth had come hrough but his deciduous teeth were still in.. they were removed very quickly with a local and hopefully the teeth will move into the gaps they are meant to fill.. he grew them under his tongue!

FBaby

GA and sedation are not the same. Sedation is like a big dose of valium, the child is out of it and doesn't remember a thing, but he is not asleep. Recovery is much quicker and the risk are much less. My son had a tooth fixed - there was a possibility that it would have to be taken out- and he was in and out in 30 minutes, a bit drowsy at first, but could walk to the car, and back to normal after a few hours. The needle in the hand wasn't too pleasant, but they'd put anaesthetic gel on it before so wasn't too bad. I was much happier with him getting sedation than GA.