4 yr old and dental surgery

I took my DD to the dentist for the 1st time today.. I knew she had a hole in one of her molars, which I noticed when we were brushing last week. And I have no idea what I thought they would do, but was floored when they said surgery, full general anesthetic..

She needs a crown to protect the tooth until it is replaced by the permanent tooth. The hole is deep and the filler will not work for the life of the tooth. And being the age she is, to do this they are saying under a general..

Do we keep getting the filler put in, in the dentist chair and possibly risk her fearing the dentist for life, or do we go the whole surgery and have it done and theoreticlly not have to worry about that one again. Do I have any other options? Can it be done without a general? What would it involve?

I am quite wary of being told this is the only option straight up. I was told for myself last year that I would need a general for my wisdom teeth. I got a 2nd opinion and had them removed in the chair within 10 minutes, so it makes me wary, very wary of the most extreme option.

I did message an old school friend who is now a dentist (unfortunately he is in vic, I am in qld), who mentioned that it is common practice and safe unless there are other health issues, especially heart issues. We told the dentist that DD has a heart murmur that was picked up in a routine dr's visit/health check, and we are waiting for further tests to confirm whether it is something of concern or not. She made no mention of this risk when explaining the details of the surgery.

I know no-one can make this decision for us, but what are your thoughts? Being private, we can do this at a time that suits, and we will not even consider it until the heart murmur has been checked (unless there is a sudden onset of pain in DD and we will re-evaluate). My friend also suggested going to a pediatric dentist to put my mind at rest.. We did see a specialist peadiatric dentist :(

How old is she?
Given that it's needs a stainless steel crown I assume it needs a pulpotomy (the nerve is chemically treated), I'd do it under GA, that way they cn also do x rays and do any other work needed, a lot less stress for DD and it's done in one go.
DD1 had some fillings done in April under GA, she was fine and I'm gad it did it that way, I'm a trined dental nurse!

My DD5 just had a filling done on one of her molars in the chair with no local anaesthetic at all. She was happy and is going back again in a couple of weeks. I would get a second opinion!!

I'm currently going through a root canal (similar to what your daughter needs).

There's no way IN HELL I'd put either of my kids through this without anaesthetic. I just wouldn't. And the needles are often more scary (ie locals) than a GA/sedation.

My youngest had sedation for five stitches in his arm and I'd definitely knock him out if we had to do it again.

About 9 months ago DS who was 3 at the time had to have dental surgery under a general anathetic.
He had one molar pulled out and 3 fillings put in his other teeth.

It went absolutly perfectly and he is still a lover of the dentist. We even had to go back to get his spacer put in and there were no problems getting him there.
DS is also quite a sensitive child and remembers everything.

Having had a horrible experience as a child at the dentist my parents could not get me to go back without panic attacks and absolute fear. I agree with Divvy and would not want him to go through what he did without the general.

I would absolutly ask another opinion though and then decide the best for your DD!

I used to do dental surgery at the kids hossy in Sydney. I always thought that would be the way I would go if my kids needed it. Better that they can't remember IMO.

However, recently my 6yo needed a pulpotomy. We have paedi dentists here in schools. She had it done in the chair. Not once did she flinch or complain of any pain at all. But, she's 6 has a good attention span and could understand the explanations and instructions.

My DD started having pretty extensive (and expensive) dental surgery at 4.5years old. She has had 2 root cannal therapy and 4 fillings in the past 9months awake in the dental chair. Our dentist is fantastic and I do have one very brave girl. She went to see him because of a tooth ache and it turned out he couldn't fix the tooth with just a filling. He did to start with but she still had pain so he tooth the nerves and blood supply out and put antibiotics into it and a temporary filling in. It took 3 visits to fix that tooth. He said it wasn't a tooth she could loose as she already had permanent molars behind it and if it came out the permanent teeth would move forward and when the front teeth came through she would have a crowding problem. It turned out DD had to have the same thing on the other side due to a recurrent abcess.
Originally he said he would trial her and see how she coped depending on how she reacted if she would need a general. He was pretty confident DD was mature enough to cope just fine. He said it really wasnt an option to have the tooth removed. Once she was a little teary (after the 3rd time I sat in the waiting room) She came out a little teary as she had some local by a needle which was the first time. He always used a local gel but just the thought of the needle frightened her I don't think it hurt at all.
On her final visit DD wanted to write a love letter to the dentist thanking him for fixing her teeth and to tell him she loved him (I wouldnt let her) She definately was not traumatised. The dentist kept it short and sweet almost everytime. She had approx 8 visits all up over a number of months. I never had any issues getting her to go to the dentist. I'm really pleased she didn't need a general. I'd get a second opinion if your not happy with what your dentist advised.

My DD had 2 teeth removed due to dental abscess' at the age of 4 under general anaesthetic in hospital. She was quite ill which affected her diabetes so it was a priority to get them out.

She had to have another tooth removed earlier this year (next to one which was removed 2 years ago) and it was done in the dentists chair also as a matter of urgency.

Hopefully she doesn't need any more dental work (we go back in October) but out of the 2 definitely the general/hospital was easier to manage. Even though she was partially sedated (phenergan) for dentists chair she saw the needles and everything and got freaked out.

Good luck, hope your DD doesn't endure too much

I would think the ga, scary as it is for us as mums, would be less traumatic for your DD and less likely to result in a wariness of dentistry work cos she wouldn't see any of the equipment or feel the needles etc. but I haven't had any first hand experience.

sent from my watzamajig so may not make sense....

Firstly I would check with your GP about the heart murmer and ask some questions about going under a GA and what that would mean for your DD. If there are no issues with that then I would see if you can get a second opinion if you are unsure about her having a GA. It does sound at that age though that it might be less traumatic than being in the chair.

Thanks for all the responses..

DH and I have talked about it, and discussed further with my dentist friend and have decided to go with the GA (providing that all is ok with the outcome of the heart murmur). We are booking it for October, cause there is more chance of the heart murmur having been invetigated, rather than the the date available to us in September.

I really doubt DD would cope too well in the chair, and I am sure she would pick up on my uneasiness of the needles and such at the dentist.. We are going to explain it to her about a week or so before it happens. Am hoping that is enough time for her to process it without being too long and freak her out.