Boy, 5, Dies During Dental Procedure

[The Straight Story]

Boy, 5, Dies During Dental Procedure
Dylan Stewart Given Sedative For Fillings, Stopped Breathing


CEDAR KEY, Fla. -- A family in Cedar Key is trying to come to grips with the sudden death of its 5-year-old son while he was at the dentist.

Last Thursday, Dylan Stewart's parents took him to the dentist to get some fillings.

Ashley Hinkle, a Stewart family friend, said Dylan was given the sedative chloral hydrate at Dr. Ronnie Grundset's office in Gainesville to make him go to sleep, but while he was under, he stopped breathing.

Paramedics took Dylan to Shands, where they pronounced him dead after 45 minutes, WJXT-TV reported.

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/23296172/detail.html

[BlueIris]

1. Awful. nt

[Bonobo]

2. General anesthesia is always a risk. Not worth it for dental work. eom

[Lance_Boyle]

5. This is conscious sedation, not general anaesthesia ('going under').

Different rules apply.

[Bonobo]

7. Yes, I see. I wonder what went wrong.

Chloral Hydrate is not supposed to have such adverse effects.

[Subdivisions]

3. Very sad. Anyone here know about this chloral hydrate? How

did this happen?

[sharp_stick]

9. Chloral Hydrate has been used

for over 100 years, it's very quickly metabolized but not (AFAIK) used commonly anymore. It can cause respiratory depression in high doses and some people (very uncommon) don't metabolize as quickly as other leading to the potential for overdosage. This would be my _guess_ in this case.

I don't know why they would use this on someone when there are so many other options available, Nitrous Oxide, being a dental favorite.

[paulsby]

16. nitrous oxide fwiw

does NOTHING for me. i barely notice it. i was thinking about looking into sedation dentistry for this reason

i tend to have a high tolerance for all sorts of drugs, so not surprising nitrous does nothing for me

except alcohol. i have almost no tolerance for it. i rarely drink more than 1 drink at a sitting

[Lance_Boyle]

4. Maybe sedation dentistry is not appropriate for kids?

It should certainly only ever be practiced in an environment equipped to deal with its potential consequences - in other words, with a crash cart and trained nursing staff (if not a nurse anaesthetist) standing by, and an ER within spitting distance. These are the rules for conscious sedation for medical procedures like endoscopy...

I wonder, though - did anyone ever die from good old fashioned dentist-administered nitrous?

[tallahasseedem]

6. There was really no reason...

(that I know) why he was given chloral hydrate as opposed to nitrous oxide.

Where's PCIntern? He's a Dentist and could probably let us know why.

[TorchTheWitch]

10. wondering about that myself

Doesn't seem to be a very appropriate med especially for one so young.

[Blue Diadem]

8. Poor little guy. Last year my husband was told I stopped breathing during a dental procedure.

I still don't know what happened. Originally the Dr. at the hospital where I was admitted told me it was due to low B-12 levels and being given nitrous oxide. Then when I had two surgeries later in the year and discussed it with the anesthesiologists, they told me it had to be due to something the dentist did wrong.

I hope they find out what caused that little boy's death.

[SidDithers]

11. Kick...

hope PCIntern sees this thread. I'd be interested in his informed comments.

Sid

[cbdo2007]

12. Are people usually put to sleep to get "some fillings"?

I only had one once as a kid and I don't think they put me to sleep for it. Is this routine??

[Goblinmonger]

14. My kids were given nitrous when they had a couple fillings.

My son went in for his filling and we asked him how it went when he came back a half hour later (he was, like, 5). He said he didn't get the filling. We asked him why. He said they put the thing on his nose and then they just took it right off and told him he was done. SO.....that's why they use it.

[TheMadMonk]

15. Back in the day, you and I knew what was coming if we didn't sit there and take it.

I have no idea if it's routine, but I certainly know many many kids today who could only be worked on sedated.

Events like this are terribly sad, but the unfortunate truth is that every breath is not without risk. For some a bee sting is a death sentence. Others the merest spatter of peanut oil, or a crumb in a packaging machine. Apart from the obvious allergies, anybody may have a random achilles heel, many may never encounter their particular trigger, but one in a million shots do happen and when they do, the newspapers and conpiracy theorists have a field day.

For all we know the kid held his breath until he turned blue and then hyperinflated an overdose.

A history of less than ideal outcomes is a reason to suspect malpractice. A rare occurence or concatenation of events is something to study and try to find a way to prevent a reoccurence of.

[sarge43]

13. His death may not have had anything to do with the sedative.

Might be a good idea to wait on the autopsy.

[paulsby]

17. right. this is similar to taser hysteria

person dies after being tasered

therefore, (by DU logic) taser caused the death

autopsies be damned