Why Were You Referred

Welcome to Children’s Dental Surgery. Your child was referred to our facility based on a diagnosis of a need for treatment and that dental surgery is the best option. Children must first be evaluated by a Children’s Dental Surgery-affiliated dentist before scheduling their procedure.

Once the referral is made, one of our treatment coordinators will secure a procedure date is selected as soon as possible. Please note that many of our surgery centers do have busy schedules but we try our best to keep this waiting period as short as possible.

We invite you to watch this helpful video to learn more about why your child was referred for dental surgery and what you can expect.

What is Children’s Dental Surgery?

Children’s Dental Surgery is a medical facility where children can receive  dental treatment that often cannot be performed in a typical visit to the dentist.  Our  dental care is provided with the assistance of medical anesthesiologists and nursing staff to ensure your children receives the utmost care needed.

Why were you referred to us?

At Children’s Dental Surgery, we provide treatment while your child is asleep under general anesthesia. Your child has already been examined in one of our dental offices, and x-rays may have been taken.

Your child’s dentist may have recommended this mode of treatment for several reasons, including

• The child’s age
• The number of cavities or amount of tooth decay
• Complexity of the necessary treatment
• The child’s ability to cooperate for dental treatment
• The child’s unique health care needs

Regardless of the reason, Children’s Dental Surgery is a safe, hospital-like setting  where children can receive the dental care they need.

Step 1: Anesthesia

After changing into a hospital gown in our pre-operative area, your child may be given an oral medication to help with anxiety and make them feel more relaxed.

After they are transported to the operating room, our Anesthesiologists will then safely administer anesthetic gas to your child through a mask until they are sound asleep.

Once your child is asleep, they will be given both an IV and a breathing tube. The IV, placed in their hand, arm, or foot, allows us to deliver medication to keep them asleep, as well as fluids to keep them hydrated. The breathing tube will allow your child to continue breathing while the treatment is performed in their mouth. Don’t worry, this is a typical surgical process when a patient goes under general anesthesia.

Step 2: Diagnostics & Treatment Planning

Once your child is asleep, our dentists will perform a comprehensive examination of their teeth.

As part of this process, we will take new x-rays of every tooth so we can provide the most appropriate and complete dental treatment plan for your child.

The new x-rays will show the full extent of tooth decay, how many cavities are present, how large the cavities are, and if there are any other concerns.

After the new x-rays are reviewed and a full dental exam is performed, our dentists will identify and complete ALL necessary treatment while in the operating room.  They will not exit the sterile operating room to explain or review the additional treatment until the surgery is complete.

What this means is that the scope of treatment identified and performed on the day of surgery may, and likely will, change from what was originally described in the dental office. The new X-rays may reveal critical issues that were previously unseen, or if previously identified issues have gotten progressively worse over time.

 We understand that this might feel uncomfortable for you, but our goal is to limit the amount of time your child will be under anesthesia. Stopping surgery to talk to the parent prolongs the procedure and can cause complications.

All treatment performed is designed to maintain your child’s oral health. Our dentist will only perform treatment considered necessary and important. Nothing more, nothing less.

What kind of treatments are performed at Children’s Dental Surgery?

What type of treatment your child receives depends on the severity of each issue.

For small cavities, we use a white composite resin filling. If there are larger cavities, multiple cavities in between teeth, or multiple cavities in the same tooth, we will place a cap or crown on the affected teeth. If the decayed tooth is a back molar, we’ll use a silver crown. If the tooth is in the front of the mouth, we’ll use a white crown or cap.

Sometimes, depending on the amount of decay, a tooth may need to be extracted. There are typically a few reasons we need to extract teeth.

• If the cavity is too big to place a cap or crown on the tooth
• If there is an infection in the tooth or around the supporting bone
• If there’s crowding where a baby tooth is blocking the path for the adult tooth to grow.
• If the tooth is very loose or does not have enough root structure to place a filling or crown

If a baby tooth has been extracted, we will sometimes place a space maintainer in your child’s mouth. This small orthodontic device helps maintain space for the adult tooth to grow in and prevents any other baby teeth from shifting into that space.  Some space maintainers can’t be placed in the operating room, so a dentist may need to have a dental lab create a space maintainer custom-fit to your child’s mouth.

Step 3: Post-Surgery Care

Once the dental surgery is completed, the anesthesiologist will turn off the anesthetic gases, and the anesthesiologist will turn of anesthetic gases and they will remove the breathing tube from your child.  They will then be transported to a recovery room, where they will be monitored by a nurse to ensure that their vital signs are stable and they are breathing properly. As your child awakens from the anesthesia, they may wake up feeling “weird”, restless, and prone to tears. These are common side effects of coming out of anesthesia, and they don’t mean your child is in pain.

At this time, the pediatric dentist will explain all procedures that were performed with you, and will review the post-operative instructions. You will need to schedule your child’s follow-up visit as directed by the dentist at the dental office.

Any questions regarding anesthesia or post-operative care should be directed to the surgery center you visited. We thank you for entrusting Children’s Dental Surgery for your child’s dental care and hope both you and your child had a positive experience.