Upset over child dental emergency happening... (1 Viewer)

[Chris]

Ok, this is a long story, but we are finishing up a kind of rough week here in the household. Monday night, our youngest son was chasing something (we assume now one of our cats) around and tripped. Our house has inset rooms from the main room (they drop down a step and a half) and he tripped on the bottom step, taking out the top with his mouth. In the end, he broke five teeth, pushed one up into the gums and busted his lip open. He's 3.

Bleeding profusely, we go to the emergency room, and they see that he has vertically split 3 teeth and the damage to the others. They prescribe him pain killers and tell us to see our dentist first thing in the morning and get an oral surgeon referral.

We go to a pediatric dentist 9AM Tuesday morning, and have him evaluate the child, and he notes that five teeth would have to be removed. He informs us we have to see an oral surgeon within 24 hours and it would be a two step process.. one to get the teeth out, and another to put in a periodontal bridge to provide him fake teeth (our son already is seeing a speech therapist, being without his top row of teeth for 4+ years is seen as a major negative to that).

We drive across town to see the referred oral surgeon; he does an evaluation and tells us that while he'd love to do it, he would require sedation due to the severity, and with his size, he refers it to a children's hospital.

He calls the hospital and gets an oral surgeon and room booked for the following day, Wednesday. So, Wednesday, 9AM, we arrive to get the procedure done, and the oral surgeon does the initial overview and sends us to pediatric dentistry, so they can prep a room and other items.

Upon arrival at Pediatric dentistry, we relate the story, they sympathize and then inform me "we don't do sedation for just anyone" and then "we'll do an evaluation"

So, we wait. The child has now not eaten since the night before to prepare for surgery.

An hour later we go back with the specialist, who informs me that "yes, it's a mess, but I don't think we are going to sedate him, just don't believe in it."

I should have buckled up and ran. I should have left ;(

I tell them about the other dentists we had seen, and how we were referred there, and they tell me "well, we think that's a bit much, it can be done in other ways."

They give the child four shots into his gums and then strap him into a straight jacket and board and encourage me to hold down his legs and stomach so he cannot move while a nurse holds his head still. His arms are contained within the wrap and secured to the table. Awake and screaming, they pull out five teeth "wham wham wham" The x-rays came back to them -after- the teeth were out.

During the process, the child was screaming and yelling "please don't do this" "help me" "help me".. I'll admit, I broke down and cried, it just killed me, I knew once it started this was really wrong, but there was just no going back.

After we were done, the child was pouring blood because he couldn't hold his own gauze in (could you as a three year old?) and was crying.. I was then informed "hey, you need to hold the gauze in dad" "make him hold down a bit" and so forth.. I told them that we would be getting fakes put in later, and was informed "boy, I'm not sure if that isn't a waste, I mean, eh, kids lose teeth"

I said to the dentist on the way out "this is terrible; the kid is going to hate me for how this happened." To which I was consoled with "he's three years old, he won't remember any of this" .. I'm just not so sure of that.

I'm just really dissapointed at the moment :frowning: Our son is OK, and feeling better now, but he slept badly the night after and was very scared for most of the day. I am worried about how this is going to work out when we go back to the dentist on Jan. 12.

:frowning:

 

[Chris Hovanic]

Suck city.... Im very sorry for what has happend to your son.

I think a very strongly written letter to several key people of whatever hospital is in order.

It pains me to know end whenever my son hurts himself.

Well make sure he knows you love him and that, though it hurt like a (left blank for the sake of the kid), it was the best thing for him at the time.

Good luck and hope all goes well

 

[Karl_Luph]

I'm sorry to hear that you and your young son had to go through such an ordeal.I think we all have a story to tell about an accident that happened to us when we were so young. Please don't feel guilty about what you had to do, it sounds like you didn't have any other choice,these things sometime happen to youngsters,when they do,you just have to be there for them. Time is a great healer,this too will pass.

 

[Bob Turnbull]

Holy crap Chris...What a brutal experience for all of you.

I echo Karl's comments. Don't beat yourself up. The best thing you can do for your little guy is to hug him at every opportunity and reassure him.

 

[John Alvarez]

Dude, Sorry to hear about this. We as parents do what we think is best for the kids at the time. Definetly don't beat yourself up over it. These morons are supposed to be experts and how are you to question them. At 3 he may not remember it. I just hope he isn't afraid of the dentist later. My heart is breaking for your son. They couldn't give him gas to relax him or a little shot of valium or SOMETHING?

 

[mark alan]

You have my sympathy on this. I luckily haven't had anything that bad happen with my kids.

I can tell you not to worry about the speech therapy thing. My son was in speech therapy because we thought he was never going to start talking properly. He is 5 now, and we can't get him to shut up.

 

[Citizen87645]

I'm getting choked up just reading about it! I'm so sorry your family had to go through this and as the others said, don't beat yourself up. Funnel that energy into hugs and kisses.

 

[Matt Souza]

Sorry to hear about your son Chris, we had a similar (from the doctor fiasco point of view) with our 2 year old daughter(at the time) she was having issues with one of here knees at the time and the had to remove fluid from it. We had to hold her down while she was trying to kick and scream while they stuck a three inch needle in her knee to drain the fluid, with no meds, or sedation! It killed us :frowning: and she ended up having to do it three times over the course of a few weeks.

The only thing I can offer is she's a happy little kid now, so it seems that it didn't effect her any, but it still sucks to be going through anything like that...for you and for the kids.

 

[Malcolm R]

As John said, and you yourself alluded to, I think your biggest problem is going to be a lifetime fear of the dentist.

I doubt he'll hold anything against you, but every dental check-up and cleaning may be an adventure for years to come.

 

[Paul_Medenwaldt]

I think if any of us who went through trauma at an early age and let it affect us throughout our lives, most of us would not be sitting here at this forum and talking HT.

Don't let it bother you like everyone said. Just wait for for the repressed memory to come back in 20 years and then deal with it

Paul

 

[Matt Butler]

Sorry to hear about your son Chris. As everyone else said; just talk to your son and give him love.



Reading this and you holding your son down sent chills down my spine. *shudder*

 

[Leila Dougan]

Oh my goodness! How utterly terrible! And these people claim to work on CHILDREN? Holy cow!

I'm sorry, but I'm shocked at the treatment they gave your son. My oral surgeon was completely willing to sedate me, and adult, just to pull my non-impacted wisdom teeth. And for a three year old getting 4 teeth pulled, they wouldn't do it!?! That's crazy.

Sure, sedation on children is an especially skilled craft, but gees, there are people out there (one would think at a children's hospital no less) that could do it. And his comment on the fake teeth, what a moron. Children definitely need their teeth to learn to speak properly, particularly when they're still learning (like they are at 3). And this is especially important for your son, who has to work extra-hard at his speech. Four teeth missing is a lot for anybody!

Okay, now that I'm finished expressing disgust and the way you were treated, I want to say that I don't think all is lost. He may remember, he may not (I remember busting open my lip and loosening a tooth when I was 3.5 years). But we all go through these things and your love and reassurance will probably be the greatest healers. As been mentioned, he may have a fear of dentists, even if he doesn't remember the incident. Our minds have a tendency to hang onto emotional pain, even if the actual incident is not remembered. I don't know, really, but the only thing you can do is try to make future visits as painless and unscary as possible. Or maybe you'll just get lucky and it won't bother him at all

Definitely write a letter to the management. I'm not sure you'd necessarily gain anything from it, but at the very least maybe it will prevent other children from this sort of misery.

 

[Brian Perry]

I can sympathize with the board and straightjacket routine...I had to take my 2 yr old son to the hosptal after he split open some skin above his eye. I thought they would use the "glue" to close it or even recommend leaving it alone, but of course they wanted to put stitches in. Putting him in that straightjacket was very difficult--I can't imagine what was going through my son's mind when he was being completely immobolized.

I wish you and your son the best.

 

[Chris]

Yeah, our family dentist sure thought so. He figured even if it was risky, sedation was the only safe way to do it.. since he had the teeth split vertically, he tought that trying to pull them that way would be really risky.. since they were already broken, if they would have fell apart coming out, it could have turned into a really bad deal.. kinda got lucky on that one.. (ie, if 1/2 a root would have stayed stuck, they would have had to cut in and remove it, and man, that would have been -terrible- because it would have taken longer then the shots would have lasted for).. We just got really lucky with the outcome, it seems.

 

[Phil_L]

Chris, if your son remembers this incident when he gets older, he won't blame you. He will certainly just be glad his Dad was there to take care in his time of need. I still vividly remember having a spinal tap at age 5, the pain was unbelievable. I was being held down by orderlies to prevent me from moving. What I remember just as vividly, however, was my Mom being there with me. It was comforting to have her there and I will always remember it like that.

Don't beat yourself up. He'll just remember how you took great care of him when he was injured.

 

[Chris_Morris]

Exactly. I would also fire off a strongly worded letter to the local newspaper. The actions and attitudes of the hospital staff seemed very unprofessional, and others should be warned of what to expect before the choose to use those facilities.

Chris

 

[Bob Graz]

My son fell on our hardwood floor several years ago and drove 4 of his permanent teeth up into his gums. My wife was home with him, saw blood and no teeth and was looking on the floor for broken teeth. Didn't find anything. Emergency trip to dentist to learn that his teeth had been driven back up, yuk, and then to orthodontist to begin treatment to bring them back down. Everything ended up fine in the end but our understanding is that most likely when something like that happens root damage eventually occurs and root canal must be done. We'll see, so far so good.

Raising kids is like the old Army commercial. It's not a job, it's an adventure. Best wishes, these trials and tribulations typically work out fine. Your kids know you love them.

 

[Andrew_Sch]

Ouch. Sounds as though that was painful in more ways than one for everybody involved. As he gets older, he'll understand it wasn't your fault and that it had to be done.