My daughter is pulling out her own teeth | Autism PDD
jan1958 - that's the first time I've heard that pain and deep pressure are
related. I wonder if that's connected to Don's picking? He's a total sensory-
seeker for pressure and proprioceptive input. He also is terrible for picking
at any blemishes, wounds, insect bites, etc. He's covered in scars, and we
go through so many clothes - ugh! And I can't stand to see him doing it to
himself... 
I'm bumping this so maybe you'll get some more replies.
I can't imagine how anybody can grip and pull hard enough to extract a tooth without tools!!!
Good luck with everything.
My oldest actually did this during one of his "episodes" ...
I could see it happening as my youngest has picked the skin from his fingers, completely oblivious to the pain.
"Episodes"-- you mean a tantrum?Donny pulled out all his baby teeth, one by one. Talk about a bloody,icky mess, and it would take FOREVER to grow the new one, because he'd
pulled the tooth too soon.
In Don's case, the tooth was very slightly loose the dentist said. Not
enough that WE could feel it or see it, but enough that he could. The
different sensation was intolerable to Donny (just as having a mosquito
bite or scab is), so he ripped out the tooth to get rid of it.
In our case, the only things that worked were never giving him an outside
reason to pull out his tooth (so no tooth fairy at our house), and trying to
distract him whenever we saw his hands in his mouth.
I was really worried he'd pull out his permanents too, but so far, so good.
Don's not the only kiddo on the spectrum I've known to do this - the little
guy my hubby used to work with did this also.He had a hole for a while, but no biggy. It started to come in, eventually.
[quote]I am amazed that she can do that, does the pain bother her? [/quote]
She has a lack of sensitivity to pain. I remember I pulled my own teeth out before they were loose, but they were on the verge of coming out-- I'm talking about molars when I was maybe 11 years old. I was looking for teeth to give to the tooth fairy. :D
The dentist did not seem too concerned.
I contacted a specialized dentist at the Children's Hospital and left a message on his receptionist's machine. I hope they get back to me, this is kind of specialized.
fair share of stitches. Since pain is not a deterrent what is a motivator?
Does she know the tooth fairy only comes if teeth fall out by themselves?
Could she get a reward for any week/month that she leaves her teeth
alone. Would a social story about loosing teeth help? Would a stern talk
from the dentist help?
During one of his manic phases when we were changing up meds, he did alot of strange things, and that was one of them.
I told the dentist and was told not to worry about it, as it was baby tooth.
[quote]Does she know the tooth fairy only comes if teeth fall out by themselves? [/quote]
We hadn't talked about the tooth fairy, thank goodness!!!
[quote]I told the dentist and was told not to worry about it, as it was baby tooth[/quote]
Did it take a long time for the teeth to grow back?
Ben did this. A dear OT friend told me that it is sort of a stim. I got Ben to finally stop when I told him repeatedly that the grown up teeth don't come back. His dentist also put a piece of wire in his mouth to encourage the adult teeth to grow in correctly. Ben had a bunch of them missing. Plus they had to extract the ones that were coming in double. I made sure that the little wonder child knew that if he yanks out his teeth, the dentists goes in there to fix it up. The OT told me that pain is a deep pressure that a good many of the kids crave. she also lovingly forewarned me that the nasty behavior can come back in adolescence with acne and some of the kids begin to pick at zits. fortunately, our family has pretty good genes in that area. Dark-skinned African-Americans very rarely get pimply faces. The whole phenomena is just ghastly and icky.Has anyone ever encountered this problem?
Over the summer, I told my daughter, who's five, that her teeth would eventually become loose and fall out. I did this to prepare her for when her teeth did get loose. I didn't want it to be a shock to her.
I think she developed a kind of anxiety about it, so to get a jump on it, she decided to pull her own tooth out to "get it over with". It wasn't the least bit loose. We saw that she had loosened it, and we thought it was going to take a while to fall out, but she pulled it out on her own.
We took her to see the dentist. He said her tooth wasn't growing back. So it looks like her gap would remain for a good long time.
So this week, she did it again. While we weren't looking, she loosened another tooth and pulled it out. I think this time she did it to be "more grown up".
We're worried about this becoming a habit.
We're afraid she'll have this unsightly gap in her teeth for a very long time, as she did not wait until they were loose to pull them. And from a social perspective, that's problematic. As it is, her tongue protrudes (we're getting that looked at).
Has anyone ever had this problem?
Does anyone have any idea on how to stop her from doing it again. We've tried telling her it's "babyish" (that's been a running theme with her-- being "grown up" and "babyish", but that doesn't seem to deter her).
I talked to my ABA professional. She had never dealt with that before and was unsure (although she's mulling it over).
Anyone? Anyone?
I am amazed that she can do that, does the pain bother her? Too this day I have a hard time thinking about it when my mom finally forced me to twist my first loose tooth out, i suppose it was the right thing to do in the end it was a bother, but i fought so hard.
Yea, have u contacted a dentist, i hope the open whole does not get infected, since they were not ready to be removed.
Good luck, wish I could help!
Jan1958 -- If you need some teaching tools for flossing and dental health for kids, there's a list of good online resources at this topic:
http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=19277&am p;KW=dental
Epiphany, since your dd is wishing to be more "grown-up" vs "babyish", maybe if you showed her pictures of herself when she was toothless during her baby months and remind her that toothless babies need to eat baby food, while big kids with teeth get to eat all the delicious foods, snacks, cookies, etc. Buy a couple of jars of baby food to show her and tell her that is what she will get if she continues to pull her teeth out. Just an ideaI find this freaky. I don't supervise the girl 24 hours a day.
Thank you all for your responses.
[QUOTE=NorwayMom]Jan1958 -- If you need some teaching tools for flossing and dental health for kids, there's a list of good online resources at this topic:
http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=19277&am p;KW=dental
[/QUOTE]Thank you! You guys are great!
[QUOTE=Precious Ones]Epiphany, since your dd is wishing to be more "grown-up" vs "babyish", maybe if you showed her pictures of herself when she was toothless during her baby months and remind her that toothless babies need to eat baby food, while big kids with teeth get to eat all the delicious foods, snacks, cookies, etc. Buy a couple of jars of baby food to show her and tell her that is what she will get if she continues to pull her teeth out. Just an idea
Good one! She stills goes on about how she's too old to eat baby food every time we pass by the baby food aisle. Sarah has pulled 3 teeth so far..if they get lose she feels she cant eat a bite no matter how much you tell her to use her back teeth she wont..so she gets fixated with kleenex and the tooth till it comes out..at least they are loose. The sensory of it drives her crazy and she cant stand it. I guess if it is just baby teeth I wouldnt worry too much.
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