Nitrous Oxide on 3 Yr Old with Cavities

Its safe and I'm in the situation! My daughter is 3 and has 2 cavities and will be going through the same thing. It is a genetic thing; my daughter brushes 2 times a day and has little princess flossers she uses at least twice a week. I had cavities at her age and so did my husband. Another thing to think about is baby teeth are naturally weaker teeth; they're made to go only so long and wear away and fall out so don't beat yourself up over this. You should look into a flouride rinse for your son. My daughters dentist recommended ACT flouride rinse for kids. She said if your child isn't great with rinsing and spitting, just dip a toothbrush in the rinse and brush it onto their teeth. Its bright pink and bubblegum flavor, my daughter loves it.
The procedure is very safe, I had it myself when I was 3. I hope this was helpful!

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Hi B.. My children's dentist when we lived near Philly worked with Children's Hospital of Philly (CHOP) and we met him when we took our youngest son to CHOP's cleft palate clinic. He was just as good a dentist in his private practice as he was at CHOP. I really appreciated his kindness to children with special needs of all sorts. We needed laughing gas (nitrous oxide) for my older son's soft baby teeth (4 came in with no enamel) and I was SO grateful to him for that. He tried to work with lawmakers to force insurance companies to cover the expense for nitrous oxide for special needs kids because dentistry was so frightening for some of them. I didn't have those kind of special needs children, but I definitely appreciated someone who understood children's needs like this dentist. Both of my kids had laughing gas when they were either getting those soft teeth fillings, or having teeth removed. One kid calmed down enough to be able to get through it, and one kid slept through 2 teeth being pulled. (Wow-I'd like some of that next time I have drilling that feels like it lasts FOREVER!)

So I would say not to be scared, and yes, it is safe.

I wonder if you have checked to see if you have fluoride in the water where you live. If you don't, you should really talk to the dentist about fluoride supplements. They have made a huge difference in this generation's lack of cavities, compared to my generation's.

Good luck, and all my best,
D.

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The children's dentist gave my three year old a juice drink that sedated her alittle. Then they gave her some nitrous oxide on her nose. She didn't respond to either and had to have to be put under at a hospital so the dentist could fix her teeth. We decided to have the back teeth filled as a preventitive measure so we wouldn't have to go through this again.

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Just make sure you are using a qualified pediatric dentist for the procedure. A pediatric dentist goes thru another 2 years of specialized training after 4 years of dental school to be able to specialize in and treat only children. They do anesthesia rotations so they are well versed in taking care of the little ones. Look them up, see where they went to school and residency, see if you can find reviews or get recommendations from friends.

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Nitrous is safe, but are they really ONLY going to use nitrous? I sure hope they are using the novocaine too!!

Your son will be a little loopy during the administration of the nox, but he will be back to normal about 5 minutes after they turn it off.

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