Dental Work Without Nitrous Oxide - Anyone Done It for Your Child?

When my son is having cavities filled, he takes the oral sedation medicine and nitrous. He's still awake enough to follow commands(or try to get up and run away). They have me stay in the room but not interfere so he's only getting instructions from 1 person. They monitor his blood pressure and watch the clock so he doesn't stay out too long. They explain things to him in kid-friendly terms- washing a tooth, putting a blanket on a tooth, making a tooth sleepy, etc. They don't usually tell me what's going on but a couple of times they have had a new assistant or dental student so I got to hear a more detailed explanation. My husband was concerned that they were doing too much, and we have switched to a different dentist now.

I had similar experiences when I was a child and I can tell you that it is torture to a child to do what you are doing to him. If he is not cooperative then you need to take him to a Pediatric Dentist and let them put him to sleep for an hour to an hour and a half and get all the work done in one sitting. We had a cap and several fillings done in less that 2 hours and K went to sleep and never felt a thing. It was awesome. I will never take any child to anyone for Dental work that is not a Pediatric Dentist. The kids can go until they are much older.

Not a family dentist that accepts children, but a Specialist that specializes in baby teeth and the growth of the adult teeth experience.

I hate nitrous oxide. I don't like the way it makes me feel, and I suspect my son is the same way. His current dental office--not a peds office, but one who actually sees children as simply part of their clientele, albeit sometimes a more difficult part--does not offer nitrous. His last cavity was shallow, and they filled it without nitrous or any novacaine. I loved that, and so did he.

One of our boys has had a ton of work done w/o nitrous. Dr Champa in Greendale is so good w/the novocaine that our son didn't even know he had gotten a shot.

My kids have had small cavities filled without anything. The dentist they go to is fantastic and explained everything that was happening. I thought for sure we would be called in but they did it on their own.
I would just be sure to let the dentist know what happened last time and why he freaked out. Then make sure you talk about it with him beforehand.

I don't have a preschool but I though a child's point of view might help. My daughter is 8 and just said on her own she didn't want it. In her words it didn't make any difference and just made her feel funny. She isn't afraid of the dentist and is a lot older.

The explanation is huge for kids own what coming next. Changing dentist was the best thing you could do. I have always felt the Nitrous oxide was as much for the dentist so the kids don't wiggle.