Thursday, December 28, 2006

So the root canals were kind of a bust.

Liquid valium given the night before and the morning of had basically NO effect. Both the doctor and one of the assistants asked me what dosage I had given, if any, because most people are thrown for a loop with that stuff.

But, nonworking narcotics aside, he was brave and resolute. He got two thousand five or six shots of novacaine...two or three in his gums and two or three in the roof of his mouth. The roof of his mouth that does NOT get any pain relief from the topical analgesic.

And then they did the cold test, with my boy in tears, and he still had plenty of feeling in there. The assistant calmed him while the endodontist came out and chatted with me about other options. Sedation! Restraints?!?! And went back in, to renovacaine. The boy cried and refused and that, my friends, was that.

He said the shots in the gums were painful but okay but he just couldn't take any more to the roof of his mouth. Poor kid. Part of me wanted to just beg him to suck it up for a minute or two more the other part, the part that won, hugged him tight and took him home.

We were given some very general referrals..."Call Tufts or Boston University, they both have pedodontic departments, sorry we don't have the phone numbers"... I spent the better part of the morning on the phone trying to find a endo guy who works on kids and doesn't rely exclusively on novacaine. HAH! The joke was on me. Apparently they don't exist. The 72nd office I called referred me to Children's Hospital in Boston. Yeah, sure...I figured it'd be another dead end. It's not. They totally have a dental department and once they get the referrals they'll be calling me to make an appointment. Phew.

6 comments:

Twist of Kate said...

Aw man! I'm so sorry for the boy. I know how you feel, when I was reading it, I was like..."get him outta there!" But I also understand the wanting it to be over. Well I wish you (and him) the best of luck and the least of pain for when you go in again. Hugs for you both!

Anonymous said...

Restraints? Are you kidding me? As a substitute for sedation or alagesic? That is horrifying. I'm glad you got him out of there.

I used to work at Framingham Union Hospital (MA) and I know they did wisdom teeth in the OR, I wonder if they would do root canals as well. I don't recall that but it was 10 years ago that I worked there and this (his age, his tolerance for anesthetic and necessity of the procedure) sounds like as good a reason as any to do it that way.

What a PIA! Good Luck.

Mig said...

WOW! Talk about rough. Sounds like Children's is the way to go.

I wouldn't want a bunch of shots in the roof of my mouth either.

Poor fella. Is his PSP on it's way?

Amy said...

That was nothing but bravery on the part of the boy, and the wisdom by mom to know when enough is enough. I hope a better solution presents itself soon.

Jennifer said...

Oh my goodness. The poor thing. I KNOW how painful that is and I was an adult when I had to get the shots in the roof of my mouth. and I only needed one.

My brother on the other hand... 5-6 needles before he's frozen.

That kid is tough! Has he ever been put under general anesthetic before? I hope they test him carefully if he has to go through that.

blackbird said...

oof -
I wish I'd known...
sometimes when we are caught up in that kind of thing we just take the next steps -
he's smart to have told you to have them stop.
I noticed the last time we were in the hospital that they had a dental unit and do ALL kinds of treatments to kids who can't take novacaine.
I'm sure you're on the right track now and it will be easier - for both of you.