nitrous oxide

[qw]

My 3 1/2 year old needs 4 teeth pulled and 2 crowned. She has an upcoming appointment at the children's hospital dental clinic so I am just trying to get somewhat of an idea of how it will go. My question is can they  use nitrous oxide for such a procedure? How safe is it? What are the other forms of anesthesia commonly used on toddlers at the dentist?

[Jerome Bogin, D.D.S.]

Nitrous oxide is a very safe drug to use but I don't know if they will use it on your child because of the extensive work and time it would take to complete. The doctors that are doing the case should explain to you what anesthesia is being used and what the risks are, if any.

[qw]

Thank you for your response.

[funkynina]

I have been a pediatric dental assistant for over 8 years.  we sedate 3-4 patients a day in our office(between 3 doctors).  We use two medications to sedate our little ones.  Chloral Hydrate and Vistaril is what we use. Age 1 to 10 years old.  These medications are concious sedation meds.  They have a very high index of safety because it is done based on a range of weights. Making it hard to over sed.  Unless you just don't go by the guidelines.  I would be very concerned as a professional and as a mother that all they were planning to use is Nitrous Oxide for their sedation.  Especially for the amount of work needing to be done.  No one should expect a 3 year old to go through a grown-up procedure such as this and be still for it.  It would be very hard to do good treatment and also keeping your child's safety in mind 1st.  We also use N2O with our oral meds. Just to help.  we do not rely on this alone because for safety reasons only about 30% of the Nitrous should be used and 70% of the other being oxygen and these two are ran through the same mask.  It is imparative that you have this dentist use a monitoring system such as a pulse oximeter to monitor your child's oxygen levels.  Even healthy children that have been sedated in our office sometimes have their oxygen levels drop to around 80% which is a concern.  We always say we want to fix teeth, but your child's health and safety are our first concerns.  We always allow our parents to be in the treatment room during procedures if they want to be.  With the understanding they would respect our level of treatment as much as we respect their need as a parent to be near their child.   The N2O is not what I would be concerned about, but rather at what level and what precautions were being taken to watch out for your child's safety.  I hope that everything works out for the best and you and your child both have a pleasant dental experience. funkynina, CDA

[alexa1030]

A related discussion, My 3 years old daughter teeth problems was started.