Hi to everyone here. I haven't posted in a long time here. I read alot and lurk, but don't post often. Here's a re-cap of why I lurk and come here: I have a three and a half year old son who shows some signs of a PDD. He is verbal (has been since about 10-12 months, one of his first words being "fan" and "pie); he has a diagnosis of sensory processing disorder. He is a sensory avoider. He doesn't like people touching him unless it is intiated by him or invited by him.
I write to gain support in our up-coming dread.......or shall I say, dental visit in a hospital setting. I took my son to a recommended pediodontist; this place was supposed to be "the place to go" for special kids. I called ahead of time and talked with the office about my son's issues and his inability to be able to tolerate sitting in a chair and having someone touch him. They explained that they were fully prepared for this type of child and "we have many patients like him". I was greatly disappointed with my visit there and their lack of any plan to deal with or how to handle the response from my child. I trust the doctor's ability to take care of what my son will need orally, yet am very disappointed with how they handle special kids in the office. To me, its all about relationship. Ultimately, I knew going in there what would be the end result--being put under anethesia to crown this tooth, clean and treat with floride the other teeth and seal all seven back teeth. Yet, I want to verbalize and make known my disappointment with our office visit.
This is scheduled to happen next week. We must take our son to the hospital to have an anethesiologist sedate him and then he will be treated orally by the pediodontist. I hope we never have to go thru this again. I write to ask how anyone who has done this with a young sensory avoider dealt with it and how to build relationship with another dentist so maybe someday he can sit in the chair and go thru dental visit in a more "normal" fashion. I think for any three year old this kind of work is hard, never mind a child who cannot tolerate a medical person even looking at them or approaching them.
I guess what I'm saying is my heart is aching for my little one who responds this way. There is absolutely nothing I can do to change him. He does so well in most things in his life, yet when we have a situation like this, the reality of who he is slaps me in the face.
Any words of encouragement of advice in this kind of situation? Thank you all for sharing your lives here. There are many of us who lurk and read and are encouraged by you.
I feel for your son. My NT nephew has soft teeth and he has already had to have a crown put on. I referred them to the dentist I take my boys to - he's fantastic with kids. I started taking each of my kids to the dentist before they were 2 years old in order to establish trust. Luckily they immediately liked the dentist.
My youngest son did have one sensory related issue. He hated the weighted vest that you have to wear for x-rays. I finally told him it was a huggy vest & he agreed to wear it. ???? He likes deep pressure hugs & it was all I could think of.
You indicated your son avoids touch. I've read that kids who are hypersensitive to touch do better with firm touch than with light touch. Would your son find it calming to lay under a weighted blanket at the dentist office (or even the weighted vest)? Also, would he feel more comforatable if he had something to hold, like a stress ball or a favorite toy. You could also try playing dentist at home. We actually have a Shrek dentist play doh set that my son loves. Just some thoughts.
Here is a recent thread about the dentist. Norway Mom posted some resources which might be helpful:
http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=16456&am p;am p;KW=dentist
Ahh Dentists... Sighh!! My boy FEARS the dentist.... so we didn't even try... so it was a matter of just letting his baby tooth drop off naturally. If there were cavities... eventually, he withstood the daily pain and eventually they came off too.
But speaking about your apprehensions about how able the staff are in handling special kids, have you seen them "in action" ? Because I know my boy loves to see his Pediatrician coz the doc will be so expressive and engaging with his patients... just like "a kid". Always explaining what he's doing so as not to catch him unawares.... You might have a problem with the anesthetist who will be injecting the anesthesia... probably intra-venous. Sight of a needle may start triggering your child. How to be ready for this...?? I really don't know, unless others have had a more pleasant experience to share...
Otherwise... relax... if he kicks the dentist like supermom_97's child kicked his own mom... then maybe you might want to just prep the anesthetist/dentist/nurses for the worse... COZ if it turns out well later on, then you will be able to give yourself a SMILE of RELIEF !!
P.S. Btw, my Peds doc has an autistic child too..... thank you for that link to the recent discussion about dental visits. I am praying that all goes well with this procedure and hope that we never have to go thru this again. My son reacts the same way at the doctor's office. I like the idea of trying the weighted blanket on him. That sounds helpful. I feel awful now because in that previous thread, one comment that the relative of a pediatric dentist made about not allowing parents in the room, well that is what this place was like. They did, of course, let me in because I walked right thru. They said "one parent may come" I thought "lady, you don't actually think you're going to get a response from him, do you?" I will be asking many more questions of the dentist from now on. I've learned thru this experience. Thanks for the encouragement. Hi everyone: I wanted to update how my son did with this dental visit at the hospital under anesthesia. Well, he did pretty good. He had to drink a small amount of liquid at first (a sedative) and that made him a bit groggy, then we did the separation from us--it was hard. They placed a mask over his face to help him fall asleep, then did the IV for anethesia and then the dental work. Coming out was hard. He started to wake up a bit while they were taking out the IV and he wouldn't allow them to touch him at that point and they were struggling to keep pressure on the site where the IV was, and of course, that was tough. He was with us at that point, and just not fully orientated, and it took an hour for him to calm. The hardest part about that is that he won't even allow us to touch him, however, as soon as he saw us, he stopped screaming and only whimpered. But, during that hour, nurses are taking his vitals every 20 min. so that would set him off screaming and defensive again. He wasn't truly calmed until he was in his car seat in his car, with with his blanket, rubbing his lip with his thumb. All in all, I was pleased with how well he did. We never want to walk thru this again and I hope that with the care he just received as well as better oral care, we can avoid this kind of visit and work on relationship with dentist so maybe someday he will receive care like my other two kids, in the dental chair.
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