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January 17, 2008, 7:49 am PST
Restraining Children At The Dentist
Quote From: jaimie1974I would not agree to a dentist using this method on my child. I had a very scary experience at the dentist when I was a child. Back then, (early 70s) they didnt allow parents to come in with the child. (perhaps they would have if my mother persisted, but she trusted the authority figure, thinking he knew what he was talking about.) The dentist was going to give me Novocain, but when I saw the needle, I got very scared and tried to get up. The dentist and his assistance held me down, covered my mouth, and then said, well, well do it the hard way then. They proceeded to hold me down, give me the shot, threaten me that I would be sorry if I moved while they put in a filling. This was simply a filling! I was so scared. Ive never heard of papoose-style restraints, but I would be 100% against it. I have never heard of this in my life until last week, and I'm "old"!
However this technique was used on my 5 year old grandson, who was traumatized beyond belief. So I started researching it a bit.
The makers of these things even say that they can be dangerous and are for urgent care, not to be used to the convenience of the dentist or parent. They are mostly desgined for autistic or otherwise handicapped children in emergency situations. NOT to make a more cost effect office setting, aka get 'em in, get 'er done and get another kid back here.
When they strap the children down, then add the dental dam if the child has been crying, which I'm sure he has, he can hardly breath, and he can't communicate to ANYONE if the numbness has wore off or if the dentist has hit a hot nerve.
Some children litterly panic, surprise surprise, and still continue to thrash about. Arms, wrists and even a couple of legs have been broken due to the assistants, who may well be the parent, still trying to hold the child down.
While searching the internet on this I found a few news reports on this and it shows some video and interviews with parents and children. The videos are VERY upsetting!
There are very strick guidlines as to using restraints on our elderly, but there seem to be none of tying up our children for many times frivolous dental care. Really, how bad can a 2 year olds teeth be, they've only had them about 18 months!
I have found that dentist are no longer taking the time needed to ease the anxiety of children and would much rather just strap them down and go at it. I've put a lot of time trying to gather up as much info as I can about this and put it at debbiehagan.blogspot.com so I can show people what is happening. Especially if you are like me and had no clue anyone would do this to a child.
Please if you know any dentist who are doing this to your children, find a more experieced and patient dentist. God only knows what the long term consequences are going to be for these poor kids.
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