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Jilly_in_VA

(10,845 posts)
Sat Oct 23, 2021, 09:52 AM Oct 2021

Chesterfield mom says daughter distraught after local dentist uses little-known 'hand over mouth' te

Chesterfield mom says daughter distraught after local dentist uses little-known ‘hand over mouth’ technique

A Chesterfield mom said her young daughter’s latest dental visit was disturbing. Tracy Sikes said she was surprised to learn some dentists use a little-known technique to calm a hysterical child down during a procedure called “hand over mouth.”

The practice is no longer taught in local dental schools, frowned upon by some leading dental groups and even considered abusive by some dentists. Still, it is considered an acceptable practice in Virginia.

Sikes 9-year-old-daughter Emily had an appointment at Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics of Virginia on Hull Street Road to cap a molar. Sikes said her daughter left the dentist’s office distraught, swollen and in pain.

“She was just crying,” Sikes said. “She was extremely upset.”

The mother admits dental work is sometimes uncomfortable and scary for children. So, she pressed her daughter in hopes of understanding more about what happened during the visit.

Sikes said, “She said that she was crying and screaming because it hurt when he was drilling.”

However, what her daughter told her next about how the dentist, Dr. Steven Lubbe, handled her pain and fear left mom stunned.

“She told me that the dentist clamped his hand over her mouth and leaned down and told her to stop crying,” Sikes said. “When I hear that an adult man has put his hand over my daughter’s mouth when she is in pain and upset, of course, that brings out the mamma bear.”

https://www.wric.com/news/taking-action/mom-says-daughter-distraught-after-local-dentist-uses-little-known-hand-over-mouth-technique/
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Read on, it gets worse. Shit like this is why a lot of us hate dentists even as adults.

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Chesterfield mom says daughter distraught after local dentist uses little-known 'hand over mouth' te (Original Post) Jilly_in_VA Oct 2021 OP
Even when my adult autistc child needs to visit the dentist for routine abqtommy Oct 2021 #1
I agree. Mom definitely should have been in the room. jimfields33 Oct 2021 #2
Of course it is Jilly_in_VA Oct 2021 #3
I must be a pushy parent. If a doctor or dentist treats my adult child then I'm abqtommy Oct 2021 #5
You should always be with them. blueinredohio Oct 2021 #4
Try that Jilly_in_VA Oct 2021 #6

abqtommy

(14,118 posts)
1. Even when my adult autistc child needs to visit the dentist for routine
Sat Oct 23, 2021, 10:23 AM
Oct 2021

cleaning or other dental work I'm right there in the treatment room with him. It's up
to us parents to take care of our children of any age.

jimfields33

(18,656 posts)
2. I agree. Mom definitely should have been in the room.
Sat Oct 23, 2021, 10:38 AM
Oct 2021

Her presence may have resulted in the child being calm during the procedure. A cap over a molar is weird anyway. Why not pull it. We lose 4 molars anyway.

Jilly_in_VA

(10,845 posts)
3. Of course it is
Sat Oct 23, 2021, 10:39 AM
Oct 2021

but sometimes parents don't get a choice in who a child sees. Medicaid dentists are an example. My daughter encountered this with a couple of the stepkids--they were assigned to a dentist they hated but they didn't get a choice about it, and she wasn't allowed in the room. Period. Fortunately one of them is extremely (and I do mean extremely!) outspoken and she would raise hell if anyone tried something like this with her, even at the age of 9. I wonder if this dentist was a Medicaid assignment.

The point of the article, however, is that the dentist was using an outmoded and discredited technique on the girl that he shouldn't have been using. A little nitrous oxide and novocaine would have been the proper option, not restraining and clamping a hand over the child's mouth. That was just cruelty. I had a childhood dentist who didn't believe in numbing kids ("They're afraid of needles and it would hurt&quot and as a result I still have dental phobia. It takes everything I have to visit the dentist, even one I trust.

abqtommy

(14,118 posts)
5. I must be a pushy parent. If a doctor or dentist treats my adult child then I'm
Sat Oct 23, 2021, 12:21 PM
Oct 2021

in the room too. So far I haven't been denied. I agree that this dentist is guilty of
malpractice and it's very unfortunate. Even with medicaid coverage we have a choice
of doctors and dentists.

blueinredohio

(6,797 posts)
4. You should always be with them.
Sat Oct 23, 2021, 11:14 AM
Oct 2021

If a doctor, dentist etc. says you can't be present during treatment you need to find another one.

Jilly_in_VA

(10,845 posts)
6. Try that
Sat Oct 23, 2021, 12:56 PM
Oct 2021

when it's a Medicaid assignment. There are very few dentists who take Medicaid patients, in case you didn't know that. Finding one who does is hard. Transferring out is harder. I agree with you, believe me I do, but There is a little reality here too. And it's ugly. A lot of the dentists who take Medicaid are either beginners or not very good. Sometimes, if you're lucky and live near a dental school, you can go there because they usually take it. The students work under supervision so it's safe.

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