5 Year old in Coma after Dental Visit....

sounds very sketchy. why would the mother come in and find her daughter like that before the staff found her? and why would they tell her to leave the room in the first place? and what is a "storefront" dental office? what kind of dentist is this anyway? i wonder if they are even operating legally.

i hate to say this.. but preventative dental care could have probably prevented this. why wait til your kid is in pain to take them to the dentist to get their cavities filled?
 
Wow...that is horrible! It sounds like she may have been given too much----she had IV sedation, plus an oral sedative, plus nitrous oxide---I'm no expert on dental related sedation, but that just seems a bit much. My son has been sedated for dental work before and was given an oral sedative plus nitrous oxide, but no IV sedation. Even w/o the IV sedation, his breathing was continuously monitored via a pulse oximeter, which measures the amount of oxygen one is getting. If the mom found her daughter not breathing, she obviously wasn't being monitored.

Reb--I think what they mean by a "storefront" dental office is that it is located at a shopping-type center amongst other businesses.

I hope she recovers & that they find out why this happened. Maybe she just had some strange allergic reaction or something?
 
reb said:
sounds very sketchy. why would the mother come in and find her daughter like that before the staff found her? and why would they tell her to leave the room in the first place? and what is a "storefront" dental office? what kind of dentist is this anyway? i wonder if they are even operating legally.

i hate to say this.. but preventative dental care could have probably prevented this. why wait til your kid is in pain to take them to the dentist to get their cavities filled?



based on the article that I read ....why is it the mothers fault? Her daughter complanied of a toothache and she took her to the dentist. If she didn't take her then everyone one would be blaming her also, so which one is it. Don't take them or Do? I don't know why it said store front dentist but I would like to hear more info before I blame the mother.

Maybe she didn't have insurance to take her to the dentist but when she found out she was in pain she did. And how do you know that preventative dental care could have prevented this.


Maybe it was something to do with the sedative they gave her or something like that.

jmho
 
mindi77 said:
based on the article that I read ....why is it the mothers fault? Her daughter complanied of a toothache and she took her to the dentist. If she didn't take her then everyone one would be blaming her also, so which one is it. Don't take them or Do? I don't know why it said store front dentist but I would like to hear more info before I blame the mother.

Maybe she didn't have insurance to take her to the dentist but when she found out she was in pain she did. And how do you know that preventative dental care could have prevented this.


Maybe it was something to do with the sedative they gave her or something like that.

jmho

I can't find the article at that link.

Store front dentist offices are becoming more and more common, you see them in many malls. They're staffed by professionals and are just as legal as any other dentist office. Often they take walk-in clients as well as appointments.

I agree, I can't see how the mother was at fault. The girl needed a dentist and the mom took her to one. That's what she's supposed to do. But again, I can't find the article so I really don't know.
 
OMG my son goes in this week and is being put under to have 4 teeth pulled and two cut out....what a sad story! I can't even imagine!
 
My 5 year old had 2 cavities filled recently and they just gave him the nitrous oxide and they let me stay in the room. I don't know anything about dental work or sedation but to me it sounds like too much sedation. I feel so sad for this mom and the little girl. She was just trying to take care of her the best she could, and now this...
 
This is so sad. I was told before my daughter's appendectomy that some children don't wake up from the anesthesia. I wish the article had told what doctors think the prognosis will be for this little one.
 
Pediotontists OFTEN ask the mother/caregiver NOT to accompany the child into the treatment room. That is standard procedure here, supposedly because the child is better behaved when momma is not in the room. (Read that as the child is too scared to kick up a ruckus while surrounded by strangers without any loved ones available for support.)

It is also standard procedure for a small child who is undergoing a dental procedure to be given an oral antesthetic as well as injected/inhaled antesthetics.

Both of these things have been done to my boys when they were little, they could not have been treated by the pediodontist if I had not agreeded. I remember signing that form that said I understood what reactions could happen, and promising not to sue. The form said things like "loss of limb, loss of life, coma" Bad, bad stuff that the pediodontist will tell you is VERY RARE. I would imagine that everyonce in a while, a bad reaction occurs.

Poor little girl.

By the way, to the poster who thinks this type of treatment could have been avoided with preventative care.....NOT. My boys have all seen a dentist before they had teeth. They all brushed/flossed daily---in fact, I did it for them before they could do it themselves. They all took oral supplements of flouride. Still, chit happens. Try not to blame the mom because it just might not be her fault, have mercy.
 
Poor kid.

You don't expect something like that to happen, well I wouldn't..

I hope she is okay.
 
On Monday, the dentist who performed the procedure, Dr. Hicham Riba, issued the following statement: "My thoughts and prayers are with Diamond and her family. While I am a pediatric dentist, first and foremost I am a father of three young children. My family is deeply saddened and praying for her recovery.

"I have treated thousands of children since 1997 and many of my patients require intravenous sedation. I am board certified in pediatric dentistry, licensed for intravenous sedation and have always been in good standing with all licensing bodies. All of our patients are monitored throughout their procedures and never left alone. In addition my staff and I are fully trained in CPR."

More info and picture of this sweet little girl....

http://www.wbbm780.com/pages/88647.php?contentType=4&contentId=211045
 
She was without oxygen for an hour and no one noticed? That is what strikes me as wrong!

I really believe that the child could have simply had a reaction but for no one to notice...that is not right.

My daughter has had all kinds of anthesia for dental work, but always there was a way to monitor her at all times.

Lynie
 
sounds like anaphylactic shock. I think that ijust happens to some youngsters in the dental chair.You just don't know who it will strike.
 
what i said was preventative dental care PROBABLY could have prevented this (but maybe not-- such a mishap could happen to anyone i suppose). i'm just questioning why the mother why the mother let it get that bad to begin with.. i.e., why she waited until the child was already in pain from her cavities. but at least she brought her in, unlike the other mother we read about recently. i guess nowadays kids from non-affluent families are lucky if they ever see a dentist at all!
 
just read the article... it seems like the doc was very qualified. why isn't there some kind of simple monitoring system that is used (outside of hospitals) when a patient is under sedation, to make sure that all their signs are OK?
 
Normally, there is. Blood pressure, pulse, and o2 saturations are normally monitored. The doc said that his pts. are monitored all the time, but if this girl was without o2 for an hour, that doesn't make sense. Either the article or the doc is wrong.
 
There is no preventative dental care that prevents a cavity...

Some people get them and some people don't.
Some cavity never bother you and others get infected.

I think the othr thread had a lot of information about dentists not treating until age 5 ..
Maybe this is why? What would prevent cavitities beyond normal dental hygene which for some doesn't prevent them?
 
i agree... something doesn't add up.
 
Unlike routine medical care, routine dental care is not a top priority. I understand it should be but for some people the only time they go to a dentist is when there is a problem and it all stems from lack of funds and time. I don't blame these people or this mother this is the life we live in... I wonder if after sedating the child and finishing up the dental work they just took her off the monitors to let her rest before waking her up and that is during the time everything went wrong? Nobody knew because they didnt have her on the monitors & figured she was still just under the sedation?
 
I have an issue with dentist's that don't allow mothers present. The one time I didn't overly insist to be there (they told me they wouldn't procede if I was present)-my 9yo was jabbed on the outside cheek with the novacaine needle. I heard his shrilling scream from the waiting room and came through their doors! Never again will I allow anyone to tell me I don't belong when they are treating my children. My son is 11 now and is completely terrified of the dentist. I would die if he fell into a coma! My prayers to this family and their daughter's recovery. Tooth aches really suck, and if they are between the teeth they are hard to detect upon visual. The spray on stuff doesn't prevent the cavities that form between teeth, and flossing doesn't always get everything. Bad teeth are hereditary! Teeth that are too close almost always cause problems. Prayers for the family!
 

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