How we treated Alice’s teeth under anesthesia. Part two.

Good afternoon! We continue the story of how Alice’s teeth were treated under sedation. The first part, which deals with the preparation here.

Today is actually about the procedure.

It was a great day, even though it was Friday the 13th. The sun, there is no wind, the temperature is +16 degrees. My husband suggested a great idea and sent us to Abrau-Durso, firstly, not far from Novorossiysk, and secondly, it is incredibly beautiful. The road went well, we stopped in Abrau, went up to the observation deck, enjoyed the wonderful views, took pictures and went to the dentist. We arrived half an hour earlier and circled the city for another 30 minutes. Exactly at 14.30 we were at the clinic (thanks to Surgutneftegaz, for teaching us to be punctual). We waited for the anesthesiologist, our dentist. First, the anesthesiologist had a conversation with me. Very calmly (for which a special thank you to him), he told me how the procedure will take place and what is required of me. To be honest, I was required to do the bare minimum (to hold Alice for about a minute in a chair until she was affected by anesthesia and in the future not to interfere with people doing their work). The anesthesiologist told me in detail how Alice will be put to sleep, how they will put a special tube in the trachea and put an IV, told me how I will have to hold it until she falls asleep. At this moment, very conveniently, Alice came into the office, tired of waiting for her mother in the corridor with her grandmother. Immediately on it, I practiced how to hold it properly. I filled out the necessary documents, received a portion of soothing verbal support from the anesthesiologist, and went with Alice to the children’s room to wait until we were called. In parallel, I was given the task to carefully re-read all the documents that I filled out, which I did (again, thanks to Surgutneftegaz, for instilling a responsible attitude to documents). After about 10 minutes, the anesthesiologist came for us and we went to the office. Then everything went very quickly. With Alice, I sat down in a chair, held her legs with my feet, her hands with my hands, and in the meantime, the doctor put a mask on her with anesthesia. We were also lucky because before that Alice had just had ARI and the pediatrician prescribed us inhalations, so the procedure was again familiar to Alice and she was not very indignant. Literally 20-30 seconds (here I can be wrong, because I did not keep track of the time) and Alice began to fall asleep, she turned her head listlessly, her eyes closed. When it subsided, a wave of fear washed over me, but then I was allowed to loosen my legs first, then my arms, and there was no time for fear. The nurse lifted Alice into her arms and I got down from the chair. Then we could only get in the way and my grandmother and I were sent to the park for a walk and drink coffee.

The first half hour in the park was quite cheerful, I called our dad back, told him how everything went, he was rooting for us at home. Then we were drawn closer to dentistry. First we sat in the car in the parking lot, then went inside and waited on the first floor, when almost 2 hours had passed, we got up and went to the second floor to the children’s department, where our dentist was already walking towards us, the treatment was over. While the anesthesiologist was busy with her daughter, Elena Vladislavovna told me in detail how many teeth Alice had removed (6 pieces), which were treated (5 pieces) and even showed photos. Then we went down to the reception desk, where I paid for the treatment. We also got a 5% discount, as the child is disabled.

When Alice was released from the tube in her trachea and the IV in her arm and came out of the anesthesia, I was let into the office, shown how to properly take her and led to the wake-up room. There I laid her on the side, and the anesthesiologist explained that anesthesia is an unnatural dream, that the body does not rest at this time and she can come out of this state in different ways. I warned her that maybe she would jump up, not knowing where she was and who was next to her, trying to run somewhere, waving her arms and head, and my task at this moment was to keep her from hitting herself. He told her that she would be allowed to drink a sip of water only if she sat down herself, held her head up, and asked her to drink in the usual way. She was not allowed to eat yet, not only because of the anesthesia, but also because there were holes left after the teeth were removed and it was important that food did not get into them until they were tightened. After giving us detailed instructions and answering all our questions, he said that he would be nearby and left. Alice was sleeping soundly and I had already thought that she would not have any inappropriate reactions, as she jumped up and tried to escape. I caught her, put her back on the side, borrowed a napkin to my mouth to wipe the blood (after all, she had 6 teeth removed). After 10 minutes, she jumped up and already recognizing me and realizing that she was not at home, she began to rush home. Then it became clear that she would not fall asleep here anymore, and after receiving the permission of the anesthesiologist, we began to get ready to go home. At parting, they brought us a test tube with the teeth pulled out and solemnly handed them to my grandmother. In general, it is worth noting that the entire dental staff treated us very cordially, for which we thank them very much.

On the way home (and the time was 18.20), we collected all the traffic jams in Novorossiysk and the road home took 1.5 hours. All this time, Alice was sleeping soundly, periodically waking up and looking around to see where she was going. By the time we got home, her bloody drooling (sorry for the details) had almost stopped. She reached the apartment on her own, supported by my hand just in case. At home, she first lay down, but after an hour she got up and was quite cheerful and adequate. She received a sip of water, after 3 minutes the second, everything went well and we allowed her to drink a little. She fell asleep early, of course, and slept all night. In the morning I felt quite cheerful. She did not want to eat for a long time, which pleased me, since she was still unable to eat. Just a saw. When she asked me to eat, I gave her some broth. In the late afternoon, she ate some baby puree. As we were told, ideally on liquid food, we need to hold out until the next morning. So far, everything is working out.

Alice’s teeth don’t hurt. At first, she kept trying to feel with her fingers the holes that were left from the teeth, I had to control her, and now (I write in the evening of the day following the treatment) nothing bothers her. I really hope and believe that we will not have to resort to sedation again. In a month, our beautiful Elena Vladislavovna is waiting for us for an examination, we will get used to examining and treating teeth without sedation.

About the cost:

Initial dentist appointment — 400 rubles.
ECG at home — 800 rubles. (nurse call) + 550 rub. procedure = 1350 rub.
Neurologist’s appointment — 1200 rubles.
EEG — 1400 rubles.
Express blood test — 550 rubles.
Dental treatment under sedation — 41,562 rubles.

Total: 46,462 rubles.

In general, I am very glad that we were lucky again and Alice fell into the hands of not only a real professional, but also just a very kind, sensitive and magical Elena Vladislavovna. Here I am again, writing and crying. Thank you so much for helping her overcome her fear, for being able to find an approach to Alice, for not being afraid to contact a child with ASD, although I understand that this requires even more patience from the doctor than usual. Thank you to our anesthesiologist, for the fact that he so calmly and confidently embraced everything, that everything went well and now Alice feels great.

Of course, it was stressful, but thanks to careful preparation and competent planning, it was minimal.

Take care of yourself and your loved ones. May you be as lucky with doctors as we are!

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