A Game-Changing Experience for My Kid's Dental Visits

I've been taking my kid to the dentist since they were eight months old, and we've been going every three months since then. To be honest, it's been a long and nerve-wracking journey. When they were a baby, they'd cry and scream, and we just thought that was normal. But as they got older, things only got tougher. We managed to put off getting their upper central incisors fixed until they were almost two years old – they'd been damaged by enamel hypoplasia. We went to a well-known dentist in the city at a popular private clinic, but it was a total disaster. I regret it now. As parents, we were hoping our kid would just outgrow it, that things would get better with age. But it's hard to describe just how tough those visits were. I guess a lot of kids cry at the dentist, but we were hoping for better. We never went to the dentist alone – it was just impossible to handle with a kid in tow. My husband would sit in the chair with our kid, and I'd try to catch their flailing legs. During one particularly rough treatment, we even had two nurses helping us out – it was just my husband, me, and our three-year-old kid, plus two adults. What else can I even remember from that chaos? Our kid was so stressed out that they even wet their pants in the waiting room. They'd never even had an accident in their diaper before, and now they were doing it in a chair. The stress was just incredible.

We always had people telling us to watch videos about getting teeth fixed, play games, read books – you name it. We tried everything to prepare our kid for the dentist, to make them brave, to offer them rewards, to distract them with stories and videos. But as soon as we got to the clinic, all our efforts would go out the window, and our kid would just lose it. It was like they'd forget everything we'd told them, and all they could think about was the dentist's chair.

My kid turned four, and things got a lot tougher. Our doctor told us that we couldn't continue with the usual treatment anymore. Other doctors at this clinic had the same opinion. We'd already come to the conclusion that we didn't want to continue with this approach, and it was clear that our kid wasn't going to outgrow the issue. I'd been searching for 'miracle doctors,' but they all turned us down. We just couldn't get through to our kid. Then we met a pediatric dentist who managed to get our kid into her office. It took a long time to get him to agree, just talking and playing in the waiting room. We didn't even mention sitting in the dentist's chair. We were actually there for a consultation, but they still turned us down. The verdict was that our kid wasn't dentally receptive. He had a severe gag reflex, and it was so intense that the doctor couldn't even examine him with a mirror or put anything in his mouth. He'd never had a gag reflex before, and the doctor couldn't help us in that situation. She told us that our only option was to try sedation with nitrous oxide. If that didn't work, we'd have to go with anesthesia.

Naturally, we were counting on sedation to work. We didn't want to have to go with anesthesia. That wouldn't have solved our problem, and we couldn't have done anesthesia every time. Plus, it was a significant expense – around 100,000 rubles.

So we ended up at the pediatric dentistry clinic 'In Africa.' I wrote about them in a separate review. We had a list of recommended doctors and scheduled an appointment with one of them. The first visit was an adaptation session. We played and talked with the doctor in a playroom for a long time. Considering that our previous doctor had managed to convince our kid to go into the office, we were hopeful that this experience would be positive. Our kid agreed to go into the office and sit in the dentist's chair. That was a huge accomplishment for us. We rode the dentist's chair, showed him the mask for sedation, and explained that he could breathe in different flavors. Do you want strawberry or banana? Our kid was interested. He wasn't even bothered by the dentist's chair. The dentist gave him a chance to try breathing in strawberry flavor from the mask. Of course, the visit was still nerve-wracking, but it was a major milestone. Our kid sat in the dentist's chair without being held. That was the end of our first visit. We agreed to try coming back for treatment with sedation. The dentist warned us that they couldn't guarantee that he'd be receptive to treatment, that if he started crying or running away, they'd stop working and we'd have to go with anesthesia. And that would be our only option.

I took my kid to the dentist with his dad. I remember being at work and getting anxious, but I was getting updates with photos. They put a mask on him, and I could tell he was tense just by looking at his eyes.

SedationThe kid was nervous, but the sedation started to kick in. He was still conscious, talking, listening, and following instructions, but he was relaxed, and the anxiety was gone.

Sedation with nitrous oxideHe chatted so much that he didn't even notice the shot. We were using a cofferdam for the first time, and he started to get anxious, coughed, but it worked on the second try.

Treatment under sedation I have a video from that appointment, and it shows the kid still getting anxious, clenching his jaw, and covering his mouth. The doctor was trying to calm him down.

We were able to fix the tooth. It was a huge progress.

Treatment of teeth under sedationKid under sedationAfter that positive experience, things got a lot better. We were able to do the treatment under sedation without any anxiety. The dentist visit became a normal, everyday thing. When I say 'we need to go to the dentist,' he doesn't react negatively anymore. He feels comfortable in the chair, and we were able to fix two teeth during one appointment.

Review of teeth treatment under sedation These are photos from our last appointments. He's watching a movie, playing, chatting with the dentist, and even initiating conversations.The recovery from sedation was smooth, and he was back to normal quickly. There was no unusual behavior or lethargy.

Sedation at our clinic costs 2,800 rubles. The last treatment, including sedation, was 6,600 rubles. We don't need to do any additional tests.

Dental Sedation for KidsI've been using sedation for my kid's dental appointments for a year now, and it's been a total game-changer. My kid seems calm, and I thought we could try it without the mask. But, unfortunately, it's still too soon. The gag reflex is still present, although it's much weaker than before. So, we'll stick with sedation for now.

Sedation ReviewI'd recommend trying sedation before a dental appointment if your kid has similar issues. It might just work for you too. Unfortunately, I often see people judging and criticizing others for using sedation or anesthesia in local online groups. They say you just need to find a good dentist who can handle it. But, it's not that simple. People don't fully understand how strong a child's psychological reaction can be to a dentist, and no amount of talking can help.