What the... Do kids really need this?

[Ohio Joe]

http://www.pedisedate.com/Home.html

OK, I don't have kids but if I did... I would not allow this.

[rucky]

1. YES THEY DO!

sorry, my toddler is off the chain right now!

[Bettie]

19. LOL! I think its for medical procedures only...

...though my boys could certainly use the calming effect some days!

But no, they don't. Kids who are old enough to play video games are old enough to learn to handle doctor, hospital, and dentist appointments. Plus, caring parents will be able to help them better than some machine.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. ...

[ZombieHorde]

3. That looks like a medical device for very sick children. nt

[AlCzervik]

5. it's for laughing gas.

[Pacifist Patriot]

4. That has to be a joke.

Tell me that is a la Onion.

[Ohio Joe]

6. I found the link at Slashdot

As far as I know it is real.

[mitchum]

7. Where the hell is the shopping cart link so I can buy one of those?

That's way too cool to waste on a kid

[Ohio Joe]

11. I would assume start here

http://www.pedisedate.com/Contact_Us.html

[Arctic Dave]

8. I see kids growing up with HUGE trust issues.

"Here try this". Waking up an hour later to a sexual assualt.

[SteelPenguin]

30. I remember being held down

I had to have surgery when I was five and they had to have 5 people hold me down, while they forcibly held the gas mask to my face, without me able to move my head till I passed out. The smell of the gas still makes me physically sick.

I'd much rather have had a headset with a game on it and quietly passed out asleep then have it forced on me like that.

[Arctic Dave]

32. I believe both ways are wrong. This is like a pedophiles dream machine.

[Arctic Dave]

33. I believe both ways are wrong. This is like a pedophiles dream machine

[Spirochete]

39. I was too

Had my tonsils out when I was 6. As soon as they put that mask on my face, I went into a panic, and a bunch of people had to hold me down. It was scary. The headphone thing sounds a lot better.

[PCIntern]

9. OK, YOU try to treat an upper primary second molar

on a kid who's screaming his head off, flailing, and attempting to get out of the chair. Sending a dental bur at 400,000 RPM thru the cheek isn't the best way to start the day, you know. Dentists used to use Pedi-boards, wherein the kid was strapped down...unbelievably traumatic. some kinds need anesthetic/analgesic cocktails....that's all there is to it.

Assuming that this is legit, it looks good to me...

PC DMD

[Ohio Joe]

16. ok, maybe I'm wrong but...

I got the impression it was to be used while in the waiting room. I mean, how would a kid use their gameboy while the dentist is working on their mouth?

[PCIntern]

23. Easily, my friend...

easily.

[Sydnie]

20. My dentist was ahead of his time

He had a headset and a hifi. He played Disney stories on record for the kids he worked on. Tok the anxiety out for the kids - they could listen to the story, focus on that and not what the dentist was doing or the horrible sound of the drill. That was nearly 50 years ago. If he had used gas too, that would have been ok with me too! :)

[csziggy]

29. Or the kind of kid my husband was

Terrified at needles and still phobic (at 57) about dentists because of it. It is a major effort of will for him NOW to got to a dentist. I can't imagine how bad it was for him when he was a kid. I do know he did not get the dental care he really needed for much of his early life (or eye checkups, but that is another story).

Something like this device would have been wonderful for him - heck, he'd probably still like it even now!

[SteelPenguin]

31. see my post 30

I was held down and knocked unconsious and it's one of my earliest stark memories. I'd much rather have played a game and fell asleep while doing so.

[MercutioATC]

10. Why wouldn't you allow it?

It's designed to make anesthesia at the dentist's office less scary for kids.

[Caliman73]

12. I would imagine that it is not a necessity for most people

I work with Developmentally disabled people and some of my clients are so terrified of doctors and hospitals that it is virtually impossible for them to receive medical care without sedation. I am talking about people who will jump out of a moving car if they see a medical clinic or people who have required several workers to restrain them just to administer a sedative to "take the edge off". Some have serious medical problems that cause them much pain which can be relieved by receiving care. In that situation the device might be a welcome tool.

Too often however, these products are marketed to parents who do not want to bother working with their children to overcome their fears of the doctor. Many adults have irrational fears that they transfer onto their children. In that case the product is just a way to avoid the sometimes difficult work of modifying behavior.

[Ohio Joe]

17. Exactly my concern

Kids are rowdy... don't do anything, just sedate them!

[pipi_k]

18. Same here

I used to work with the same population of people, first the lower functioning, then the higher functioning.

One day I'm out driving with a few of the non verbal people and one of the young women starts screaming bloody murder and bouncing herself off the windows of the van. I'm like....??????

Then I realize...we're driving past the clinic where she is taken for medical stuff. I wasn't even taking her there...just driving past...

I can only imagine what hell it must have been to get her to a doctor...


When I switched to the higher functioning house, one of the women had to go in for an exam. The NP had never been able to do a pelvic exam on her because this poor mite was terrified.

Sedation probably would have been a kind option, but it wasn't an option at that time.

[Speck Tater]

13. Yes! We SHOULD be outraged at anything that makes oral surgery more comfortable for a child.

Children need to learn early in life that suffering is good, and pain makes you stronger.

Next time the dentist offers you Novocaine JUST SAY NO! Tell him you love pain, and tell him when you take your kids in for dental work that he should be sure to inflict as much pain as possible on them, and a pox on anyone who dares try to make the child's dental experience more comfortable for them. Shame on you, pedisedate! Shame! Shame! Shame!

[Ohio Joe]

22. oh please

I've advocated no such thing. As far as I can tell, since the kid is supposed to use it while playing gameboy, it is not even for use during the procedure. Rather, it is for use in the waiting room and I don't see a great use for it. Some posters in this thread have given examples of some real instances this could be of use but that is not how it is advertised. It comes across to me as... Hey, kids more trouble then you (or us) want... sedate them!

[JHB]

34. I don't see it as a waiting room thing...

...more of something that's used whereever the child is being prepped for a procedure -- for dentists, that's likely the dental chair, for other procedures an examining room or a hospital bed, etc. The gameboy is mostly to give the child something to focus on rather than just letting them sit around and let their fears ratchet up to panic state.

[AllentownJake]

14. As a medical device I see its use

My brother has autism, in order for a Dentist to be able to look into his mouth you have to knock him out.

[RayOfHope]

15. Kids that have issues that make them scared of the dentist will not put this on n/t

[PCIntern]

24. Is that what has occurred in your dental office?

'Cause it doesn't sound like mine at all. But what do I know?

[RayOfHope]

26. Yeah, what do I know, I only teach special needs kids and have a special needs son

who had to have loads of dental work done outpatient at age 3 because he was not a fan of the dentist (luckily we have gotten over that 4 years later).

I didn't say it was a bad idea--I think its a great idea, so you can take your condescension and stick it. I teach early childhood special ed, and a common thread among my students is a huge fear of the dentist. These kids often have an aversion to ANYthing new due to sensory issues, and I think it would be extremely difficult to get many of them to put this giant object on their head. It would probably be much easier if there were something that fit loosely around their neck.

[walldude]

21. No but I might like one....

[TahitiNut]

37. I was thinking the very same thing.

Gas me. Wake me when it's all over.

[hugo_from_TN]

25. Rough day at the office?

Mother-in-law getting on your case?

"Pedisedate, take me away!"

[riverdeep]

27. I was fine with it until I read this part,

"The result is a system that ...allows the procedure to be performed by less skilled personnel". I'm all for bringing down healthcare costs, but what I don't want is someone learning on a kid. Other than that, it seems like as long as they use it only as a backup for really rowdy kids, it's fine.

[madeline_con]

28. Um, it's for dental work and the like.

Don't get too alarmed. ;)

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. Reality check, so you'd rather have your kid forcibly restrained

by three or four staffers in order to get a procedure done?

I surely wish we had this at the ER... would have been far less traumatic for all involved.

And no, you cannot use it for all patients, but boy the kids who needed stitches would have saved all quite the trauma, and I mean that.

[Ilsa]

36. Actuall, some kids really do need this much help. They can be hard

to rationalize with. I can't get my nine year old to swallow a pill. Any pill. A passive method like this will help settle a child down well enough that they can get their dental work done. Some dentists don't want to work on a child that is prone to getting agitated during a procedure that HAS to be finished.

[Critters2]

38. It's just a way to give a child nitrous oxide for dental procedures and whatnot,

isn't it? What am I missing?

[bertman]

40. I remember one night many years ago when a gamegirl played with this gameboy all

night long under the calming influence of nitrous oxide. It was a gas. gas. gas.