DD gave me a scare today....
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| Wed, 05-17-2006 - 9:14pm |
DD14 had a dental appt this afternoon. She was getting a small cavity filled. She's never had a cavity - but the child has been through the ringer with orthodontics and oral surgery and has always been a champ. She was a little nervous but nothing that had me concerned.
Well, right at the scheduled time, the assistant came out to the waiting room to take dd back to the chair. DD walked calmly back there. Less than 5 mins later, the assistant rushed quickly back into the waiting room looking quite scared and motioned for me to come with her.
As they bring me back to the room, I notice everyone in the office is gathered around her and dd is looking quite dazed. The dentist looked at me and asked if dd has a history of seizures. Apparently, dd sat in the chair and made it clear she didn't want to see the needle, which they obliged. He gave her the shot of novocaine and dd immediately passed out and convulsed and was gasping for air. The dentist was apparently an emt prior to becoming a dentist and was able to open up her airway. When they called me back there dd was white as a ghost and her lips were freaky white, I mean freaky white. She was shaking and quite disoriented. Maybe not disoriented, more like confused. She was out for about 3 or 4 seconds he said.
Dd just happened to have a drs appt yesterday and was found to be slightly anemic and her blood pressure was on the low side (92/56) so I mentioned the low blood pressure to her dentist. He took her bp and it was 102/67 and she had a good heart rate (68). She wasn't clammy. Dd has never had a history of seizures but has had fainting spells when she was younger - first thing in the morning taking really long hot showers before eating. I never witnessed any "seizing" but she did pass out. The doctors back then concentrated on her heart and that was found to be perfect. She's had a novocaine before so I find it hard to believe she had a reaction to it. She didn't appear anxious about the situation so I don't think it was anxiety or a panic attack.
I told the dentist I was going to take her in to the er and he seemed to think it was an over-reaction, so I settled on taking her to her doctor who was right up the street. They saw her immediately and put in a referral for a neurologist, and sent her on her way. She just in the last 2 hours started becoming normal again. So for about 4 hours she was just really "off". I don't know what to make of it.


But it shouldn't have taken her four hours to come around. You sure got more than your routine trip to the dentist. Whatever was the cause, get it evaluated for your own peace of mind. If your dentist was an EMT he should have been able to spot seizure activity.
If he thinks you were over-reacting, I would take that as a good sign.
What happens when you faint is called a Vaso-vagal reaction. Your blood all pools in the periphery instead of pumping back to the heart. It makes you look god-awful. I am betting that was it, or she could have had a reaction to Novacaine. As a mom, I think you are doing the right thing.....let the neurologist know about the episodes when she was younger.
My bet is its' nothing to worry about, but you're doing the right thing.
lg
Wow, how very scary for you and her!! Several years ago, I had a toxic reaction to dental lidocaine. While I was in the chair, I got real cold and started to shake so they gave me a blanket. They did what they had to do and i went home. I guess it was about 30 minutes later, I just passed out cold on the floor. DD was 3 but she called her Nana. Nana called 911 and my neighbor. Turns out my thyroid was grossly underactive at the time and so my body didn't process the stuff right. I've had it since then with no problems just to be safe, the dentist usually uses something else.
Please keep us posted on what's going on.
Yeah I was going to call vaso-vagal on that too. In my job I have seen plenty of vagal responses. To my own HORROR I also go vagal when having something done to me involving needles and I needle people all dang day and observe some truly disturbing procedures. You cannot control it, and to be honest my anecdotal experiences with myself and pts is that the majority of them do not appear particularly anxious to start with.
I agree 4 hours is a looong time to "feel off". When I go down, I routinely feel weird for a good hour, but then again, I'm not 13, not in a dentists chair, and not freaked out over the whole scenario to begin with, I know what is/has happened.