Sensory friendly orthodontist

[Anonymous]

My dd is in elementary and has an incredible phobia of drs, dentists, etc. She has apraxia and has not been diagnosed asd yet has many traits that are similar. She has incredibly crooked teeth, and I suspect maybe should have had baby teeth pulled or something bc her incisors are coming in in front of her front teeth. Her dentist does a great job with her, but it’s a struggle to even get through a cleaning. I think we definitely need to switch to a sn dentist, and I’m wondering is there such a thing as a sn orthodontist? Or any sn dentists who do both? We’re in close in nova but willing to drive. TIA

[Anonymous]

We see Dr. Gerlein in Friendship Heights for our similar child. It’s a hike but absolutely worth it. Highly recommend in every way.

[Anonymous]

Just something to consider: my son has asd, and hates the dentist. For the installation appointments, our developmental ped prescribed him some Valium. She said it’s common for this population because many of them aren’t capable of having the work complete without it. Worked well.

[Anonymous]

I took my DS to a special needs dentist and it turned out that meant anesthesia (and tons of $$$)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just something to consider: my son has asd, and hates the dentist. For the installation appointments, our developmental ped prescribed him some Valium. She said it’s common for this population because many of them aren’t capable of having the work complete without it. Worked well.

Oh interesting. Our psychiatrist has completely refused to do this and we have asked. Perhaps it’s related to age. (Not OP))

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just something to consider: my son has asd, and hates the dentist. For the installation appointments, our developmental ped prescribed him some Valium. She said it’s common for this population because many of them aren’t capable of having the work complete without it. Worked well.

Oh interesting. Our psychiatrist has completely refused to do this and we have asked. Perhaps it’s related to age. (Not OP))

You should switch psychiatrists which I know is easier said than done. Our psychiatrist has prescribed meds (similar to Valium) for the dentist and a whole host of other diagnostic procedures he has to do, including blood draws.

My DS has a rare syndrome and is medically complex. He has such anxiety over all these dr visits/screenings/etc that we had to some sort of medication intervention or it wouldn’t get done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We see Dr. Gerlein in Friendship Heights for our similar child. It’s a hike but absolutely worth it. Highly recommend in every way.

+1. He is amazing and our child did great with him. His whole office staff is really wonderful. Can't recommend them highly enough. We drove from Nova to see him and it was totally worth it.