Conor's Autism Reality: Dental Filling Work Requires General Anesthetic

Conor visited the Oromocto hospital yesterday to have filling work done on a dental cavity. The visit went very well. The pre-operative visit at another local hospital had been very difficult for Conor primarily because of a long delay between our arrival time and the time the examining physician was able to see him. In both visits though Conor was treated very well by staff.

Yesterday the time between arrival and Conor's operation to put a filling in his teeth was only one hour ... and .... he received Ativan to calm him before receiving the anesthetic. On a previous unrelated surgery Conor had received anesthesia from a mask and had vomited several times afterwards. Yesterday he was calm enough that the anesthesiologist, with Dad beside Conor holding his arm, was able to provide the anesthetic by intravenous injection. She had explained that the IV method would result in less chance of vomiting during, and after, the operation. (Sorry, there are no pictures of Dr. Dad wearing surgical mask and clothes available).

The anesthesiologist gave good advice. Conor recovered very nicely after the operation with no vomiting. The dental surgeon met us afterward to confirm that the procedure went very well. He also informed us that apart from the required work Conor's teeth are excellent. Conor does enjoy brushing his teeth and we have worked on getting the tooth brush over all surfaces several times from different angles. We are going to try and work more on flossing now but Conor has a great set of "chompers" as his smiling pictures on this blog often show.

We drove home slowly to avoid any nausea inducing, sweeping turns and we pampered ourselves ... er ... Conor .... at home for the rest of the day. He was the King of Alder Avenue yesterday with Mom and Dad hovering over him attending to his every whim.

We appreciate very much the excellent health care we have here in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada and yesteday was no exception.The day went well, very well, but it still provides another example of how autism can restrict the lives of those with autism disorders.

For most people a filling requires a brief visit to the dentist's office for a localized anesthetic and little time out of their daily schedule. For Conor, and some other persons with Autistic Disorder, it would not be possible to work in his mouth with needles and other dental tools while he was conscious. It is a challenge just to have his regular dentist examine his mouth. Doing fillings or teeth cleanings while Conor is conscious is not going to happen. For Conor autism reality means that an ordinary filling requires a trip to a hospital for dental surgery under a general anesthetic.

autism