Saturday, 06 February 2010
-
Question: Dentists and Autism
Here's a question from a Parent searching for Answers about better dental care for their 6 year old with Autism:
"How can one prepare a child with Autism for the visit to the Dentist? He is just reaching this age where his baby teeth may be falling out. We just got him used to regular doctor visits, and his Doctor is completely understanding - and even sat on the floor with him to get his vitals...but the dentist seems rather new and challenging. I'm just afraid all the poking and prodding around his mouth will make him go into full tantrum mode"
Let's help this parent out, Any suggestions?
-
recommend
- recs 0
-
share
-
email
- sent 0
Related Posts
Post a Comment
- Back to autisable's Autisable Site!
- Note: your comment will appear in autisable's local time zone: GMT -05:00 (Eastern Standard - US, Canada)
Comments (7)
Social stories help with any new situation. A simple story about what will happen in the dentists office and what the dentist will do.
Also it is important that the dentist understand the situation. My youngest had terrible sensory issues in his mouth. Still does. The dentist took it very slow over the years. He began by counting the teeth and making sure there were no cavitites. Oh and BTW, there are no roots in the baby teeth so not filling a cavity can be ok if its not a molar. The baby teeth are going to fall out soon anyway.
If they can clean the teeth even just a little scrubbing if not that's fine too. Just to make sure that everything is ok in the mouth is also good enough.
I agree with the above and I would recommend a pediatric dentist instead of a general one. They are going to have experience with all kinds of children. My daughter's dentist actually took the time to talk to her and color a picture with her before they started the cleaning. Now she knows the entire dentist routine by heart-and she gets a prize out of the dentist's treasure box when she is done. This year all three of them need to go, I am dreading that!
Hi I stumbled upon your blog. We actually did better with my own dentist who was not a pediatric dentist. I took the slow and steady approach. My son came with me or anyone else in the family going. He sat in the chair, he got familiar with the place, long before we ever started a cleaning. From there we moved up to the hygentist counting his teeth, touching the instrument to each tooth, introducing him to the water (a big hit) and the little sucky vacuum. It was a slow process but totally worth it (we also had social stories of course). The not pushing and being patient paid off. He does a great job at the dentist and doesn't mind going at all! I know a lot of people who go to pediatric dentists and they just put the kids under. That didn't work for me, I think the slow approach set him up better for the rest of his life...good luck. It's never easy.
We hat first successful dentist trip for our 8 year old this past week. We gave her Adivan a couple of hours before visit and got teeth cleaned, polished and had an X-ray!!!! I hated to have to resort to drugs, but it just was not gonna happen otherwise.
FJH
http://autismretort.blogspot.com
http://autismparents.net
Wife here adding to post: The ativan we gave her was prescribed by DAN and compounded without illegals due to SCD and GFCFSF diet. Also, she received Vit C and detoxing supplements; i.e., MB12 injections, epsom salt baths, HBOT, etc. The current issue of Autism File has great articles about dentist visits and "going under". Definitely a good read. Nitrous oxide= Bad. I gave our dentist and hygenist copies. Other tips: Use the xray vest for weighted vest, we carried our own "legal toothpaste" and electric toothbrush to initiate the mouth open process then switched to the polisher. She loved the sucker and the water sprayer; so, she had fun with those. I had her lay in my lap and massaged, when needed. She needs oral stimulation so xrays were not really bad at all. We told her to chew on paper and in the down movement I held her mouth closed, the hyg. held the camera and another person hit the button. Good luck! Stay calm, go with the idicaters and it may take several trips.
@themommyquack - Your dentist sounds wonderful.
Hi,
our son of 11yr goes to a regular dentist whom is specialize to work with autist kids. I was told about this dentist by a other adult whom also has autist kids. Also because our son needs flu shot [cause he has asthma] i have found a special nurse to give him the shots. Because at the GP doctor didnt go wel. This special nurse works with the mentel handicapt people, the improvements were quikly to be seen in how our son to wants to get shots and go to the dentist.
greetings Gouwerijn/Carolyn
[in the Netherlands.]
When I was at primary school we had a great school dentist (Mr Elwood) the only problem was that if I had a toothache my mother had to find out from the education department which school he was visiting as I would not go to anyone else. I went to him until he retired even traveling from Glasgow to Skipton in Yorkshire to do so.
My only advice is build familiarity. Personally I hate injections but feel very little pain so if there's minor work to be done perhaps it will be less stressful to skip the anaesthetic.