Everyone wants to have the most comfortable, gentle and easy dental experience for their child. It’s heartbreaking to watch a child go through a difficult dental procedure fully awake. This can lead to bad memories, higher stress and even lifelong anxiety about dental care. We’ve met more than a few people who described still being terrified about dental care even well into their adulthood.
Pediatric dentists can provide children with a wide range of options to improve behavior during the dental visit. The most basic option is a process called “tell-show-do” where we tell the child what we are going to do, show the child the tools and then do the procedure. This takes away the fear of the unknown and transforms formerly scary instruments like “explorers” into “tooth-checkers” and helps the child feel informed, comfortable and relaxed.
The next step up is the use of Nitrous Oxide, also known as “happy gas.” This has the effect of reducing anxiety, making your child feel relaxed and even giddy during dental treatment. For more complicated or difficult procedures, many pediatric dentists offer “conscious sedation” which involves taking a medication orally or even nasally at the dental office before treatment begins. But for young children with significant dental problems, we need to go up a level and actually put them to sleep in order to comfortably and humanely treat their dental decay. That’s where “general anesthesia” becomes a great option. In the past decade, general anesthesia for dentistry was most often delivered in a hospital setting like “outpatient ambulatory surgery” departments.
Many pediatric dentists across the country have found access to hospital-based general anesthesia much more difficult since the onset of the COVID pandemic. Hospitals were overwhelmed with COVID patients and were facing staffing shortages. These shortages affected how many “elective” or “non-life threatening” outpatient surgeries could be scheduled. Surgery areas became reserved for critically ill COVID patients, often bumping out and canceling procedures like children’s dental care.
As dentists looked for alternatives to hospital-based general anesthesia, excellent in-office surgical teams helped fill the void. We partner with two highly-trained specialty anesthesia groups to deliver in-office general anesthesia in our offices. Children are able to be fully asleep during their complex dental treatment. This is a great option for families who are concerned with difficult dental treatment for their child and who want to make sure they will have no memory of the treatment.
There are many options to help your child through dental treatment in the most comfortable way possible. Your child’s dentist is here to help answer any questions you have as well as to guide your family towards a lifetime of healthy smiles.
-by Dr. Mandy Ashley and Dr. Madison Galloway
About the Authors: Dr. Mandy Ashley and Dr. Madison Galloway are Board Certified Pediatric Dentists proud to serve the communities of Bowling Green, Hopkinsville and Glasgow!
SKY Pediatric Dentistry has been providing dental care to children and adults with special needs since 2013. As board-certified specialists in dentistry for children, our team strives to make going to the dentist as fun as possible while maintaining high-quality treatment and preventative measures. We tailor treatment plans to each child and offer a wide range of treatment options, including sedation, in-office general anesthesia and also hospital-based dentistry. With over 25 YEARS of doctor experience, SKY Pediatric Dentistry is a great choice for children’s dental care in Bowling Green, Hopkinsville and Glasgow, too!
