Time to visit the Dentist.....HELP!! !!

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Here's the situation...My son had a dental screening at school. A hygenist came in checked them out and sent us a report. Her report stated that he has some tooth decay on a couple of his teeth (Note: he has not lost any teeth as of yet, he's 6). The slam is this....We have a form that needs to be filled in by a dentist stating that we have indeed taken him for a visit and had all work done to fix the situation. If we do not do this it is the legal obligation of community services to send someone from Children's Services to our house...neglect.

So, we've tried for two years (without success) to get him to visit a dentist. He is terrified of having cavities and thinks if he brushes (which he does excesively), he'll never have to visit the big guy. What do we do???Any suggestions?

My problem...for two years since he has been diagnosed we have not recieved any community support services whatsoever. They can't help a child with a neurological disorder but damn if he has a cavity in a tooth that is destined to fall out within the next year...I'm pissed.

Try checking to see if there are pediatric dentists who use sedation. Explain to them that your child is autistic and see what happens from there. If CPS comes to your door, at least you might have an appointment as documentation that you are doing your duty as parents to care for the health of your child.

what i would do is to see if you can get the work done while he is under anesthetic so he doesn't become phobic of the dentist and try and find a dentist that deals with kids with aspergers and autism as this would be a big help to your child

Do you have the Social Stories book by Carol Gray?
http://www.amazon.com/New-Social-Story- ... F8&s=books

It has a small section where it describes going to the dentist and what they do. Just knowing what to expect might help to relieve anxiety.

Maybe you can have a 'practice visit' where he goes and sits in the chair and that sort of thing without actually doing any work before he goes back to get his teeth taken care of. Speak with a pediatric dentist to see what they'd recommend.

a practice visit is an EXCELLENT idea ! another one is to let him accompany you while you are in the chair.....have to find an accomodating dentist, though.

I see you live in Toronto~as do we. I would be willing to give you the name of our dentist. He was absolutely incredible with my daughter, so much so, that she followed his instructions, did not have a meltdown, closed her eyes and let him do the work (after my prepping him for 20 minutes about the possibility of a meltdown/anxiety, etc)

Boy did I ever feel like a big liar/madwoman:)

Every other time we had seen a dentist, she freaked. He was that amazing.

He is in the south west end, around Lakeshore & Kipling.

If not, best wishes. I am afraid I do not have any other suggestions.

melissa

practice visit that is very detailed I still have to do this with my son he is 5 and I have been putting it off so please keep me posted as to how it goes.... I did a practice visit over and over and over for three weeks when he had to go for an eeg and he was perfect. The first one I did not do this with and he absolutely was impossible.

Thanks to everyone for your ideas! I have tried some pre-visits with him watching us have our teeth cleaned etc. But he still won't budge. He has a HUGE phobia of cavities and unfortunately that is what needs to be seen to. Social stories have never been a help for him but we keep trying. His little sister has volunteered to go for her first appt. and let him know what it's like hopefully that will help...I'll keep you posted. Thanks again!

id go to the dentist just for the sticker

social stories are exelent they really work and he may have to be put to sleep becouse a dentist can't do anything if a kid is having a meltdown

It's funny that child services will complain about something like this while ignoring cases of kids with a whole mouthful of black teeth from taking a bottle or dummy with sugary stuff on it to bed or kids with bruises from being strapped.

I would suggest seeing if it possible to find a dentist who will put your child under full sedation to fix his teeth.

Pandora, I know what you mean....His school is so concerned about his teeth but they have never arranged for an OT like they had promissed - to help with his fine motor so that he can hold a tooth brush properly. The system is so twisted.

I think giving him help to brush his teeth would also help because at least then you wouldn't have to worry about going through this traumatic experience anymore

My wife had to take our 8 year old daughter who has aspergers to the dentist last week. I found a dentist that specializes in laser dentistry so no needles or drills. Worked a treat, she really suprised us how good she was.

My son has his first dentist appointment today. I've received some very helpful advice from this thread - thank you.

So how did it go, Mom2D? And the original poster?

My son is almost twelve and we have had off and on problems with him at the dentist, but he has had only one small cavity.

The biggest difficulty for him is the hygienists, who change regularly. I can't always be sure he will cooperate.

Our dentist prescribes a valium, and it did seem to help. He had tried an atihistaminse previously to make hime drwosy, but it ended up making him jittery and spacy. Also, try to find a dentist that you are comforatble with.