Children & Laughing Gas...

[Dadu2004]

Delaney has to get a couple of fillings and sealants on her teeth. The dentist has to give her a slight injection to numb her mouth but wants to give her a bit of laughing gas before the injection. I understand why... if she jerks with the injection, the needle could go deeper than intended or there could be a serious issue with her cooperating at all.

I haven't done much research on this topic, but am starting to now. Has anyone had to go through this with your child and how did it turn out? Is there anything that I should know?

 

[Jeremy+3]

We've never had that used on our children, Amelia had milk teeth out when she was five because they were hollow so they would crumble, they rubbed some numbing gel on her gums before she had an injection, she was fine with that, didn't cry or anything and it didn't make her hate the dentist.

 

[JessicaMadison]

Yes. Hunter had to have laughing gas once as a child. I was nervous as well but it was fine. They say the funniest things and will probably take your nerves away when you hear how silly she is! She'll be okay with it I'm sure. It worked out pretty well for us. Hunter didn't cry or anything either. So, I'm sure that Delaney will be just fine!

 

[Dadu2004]

Thanks

 

[IADad]

The one we had to have done 9around age 5) they just used the nitrous, no shot. I guess I don't see the point in using the shot if they have gas. A lesser concern is how insurance may handle that.

 

[Jeremy+3]

Nitrous oxide is not a pain killer, it is just a relaxant.

 

[IADad]

Nitrous oxide is not a pain killer, it is just a relaxant.

well, not exactly - it's a sedative and it does have an anesthetic effect in some patients. But the point is regardless of how it does it, it can be used as the sole anesthetic, so that was the point, why double up on the anesthetic. I don't know if it's particularly deep or something, I can see there could be a reason, but my insurance radar went off, seems duplicate, may not be, just asking.

 

[16th ave.]

ok then here we go. its wiki.
Nitrous oxide - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
looks to me like it is both. the part about it being an anesthetic is at the bottom. and its weak.
so you are both right.

In medicine

Nitrous oxide has been used for heart attacks.
Professional use can involve constant supply flowmeters which allow the proportion of nitrous oxide and the combined gas flow rate to be individually adjusted. Nitrous oxide is typically administered by dentists through a demand-valve inhaler over the nose that only releases gas when the patient inhales through the nose.
Because nitrous oxide is minimally metabolized, it retains its potency when exhaled into the room by the patient and can pose an intoxicating and prolonged-exposure hazard to the clinic staff if the room is poorly ventilated. Where nitrous oxide is administered, a continuous-flow fresh-air ventilation system or nitrous-scavenging system is used to prevent waste gas buildup.
Nitrous oxide is a weak general anesthetic, and so is generally not used alone in general anesthesia. In general anesthesia it is used as a carrier gas in a 2:1 ratio with oxygen for more powerful general anesthetic agents such as minimum alveolar concentration) of 105% and a blood:gas partition coefficient of 0.46. Less than 0.004% is metabolised in humans.

 

[16th ave.]

um no dadu. but i hope she does well. do ya'll get to go in the back when she sees the dentist?
we are having trouble finding one that accepts the girls' insurance. and even when they tell me no they don't accept it--i ask well, if ya did would you allow the parent to go back with them? i aint too comfortable with having either of our girls be alone with anyone that i don't know too well, esp. a doctor who the kids would not look at as a possible danger. (we're having trouble getting them to understand that not all people are good people.--the stranger danger stuff...) so they've never seen one.

 

[Dadu2004]

OK all.... so, my question was.... "Has anyone had to go through this with your child and how did it turn out?"

 

[Dadu2004]

um no dadu. but i hope she does well. do ya'll get to go in the back when she sees the dentist?
we are having trouble finding one that accepts the girls' insurance. and even when they tell me no they don't accept it--i ask well, if ya did would you allow the parent to go back with them? i aint too comfortable with having either of our girls be alone with anyone that i don't know too well, esp. a doctor who the kids would not look at as a possible danger. (we're having trouble getting them to understand that not all people are good people.--the stranger danger stuff...) so they've never seen one.

Thank you. We haven't had the sit down with the specialist yet but if he doesn't allow us to be back there with her, then she won't be going there.

 

[16th ave.]

whew!!!! i was getting concerned that dh and i was the only ones that felt that way. other folks we've talked to about it seem to treat it as no big deal.

thanks for the relief ya gave from telling me that.

and every dentist i've talked to has said no that they don't allow the parent to go in the back with the kids. makes me wonder a little bit.

 

[IADad]

oh, sorry dadu, forgot to say in my original post, that it went fine, he was a little anxious about the mask at first but in seconds didn't have a care in the world.

Oh, and our dentist before, let us (actually encouraged us to) come back with our kid and our dentist now is a pediatric dentist and we go back with each of the boys routinely.

 

[Jeremy+3]

In the UK the whole family are in the room at the same time, you all have your check up and then who ever needs treatment gets it there and then.

 

[zeitgeist]

Whew. Haven't experienced the need to bring the girl to the doctor for anything that extreme yet. Hope I manage to avoid it.

All I can contribute is this:
<YOUTUBE id="txqiwrbYGrs" url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txqiwrbYGrs">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txqiwrbYGrs</YOUTUBE>
Poor kid. :lol:

 

[Dadu2004]

Poor kid is high as a kite!

 

[mom2many]

Vanna had the gas and it really was no big deal, if done well it shouldn't be an issue. Once she was done it only took about 15 minutes for the gas to wear off and she was back to her normal self. No side effects at all.

 

[bssage]

Our kids dentist is slick as snot.

They use that nose/gas thing that looks like a pigs snout. every time he goes, the gas isnt even on. It blocks thier vision so they cant see the instruments of pain being plundged into thier mouth. They used it for one filling and DS didnt even know he was given a shot and since they put it on every time he didnt give it a second thought.

When I was growing up ummmm scarry.

They keep all the kids in the same room for cleaning and exams. The doc says they are less likely to cry. And he appears to be right. The whole office is set up around kids. its pretty cool.

What makes me mad is they say I'm to old to go.

 

[IADad]

our ped. dentist is set up the same way - -4 chairs/stations in one big room. I never asked why, just figured it was all part of the fun atmosphere. They do have 2 other separate rooms too. I never thought of the peer pressure factor.