Children's Dental Surgical Centre
If your child cannot manage dental treatment awake, whether that is their age, their anxiety or their medical needs, this is the answer to it. Everything finished in one session, with a pediatric anesthesiologist caring for them throughout.
Board-certifiedPediatric anesthesiologists, every case
One sessionAll treatment completed in a single visit
Home the same dayDay surgery, two to four hours
What the centre is for
The Children’s Dental Surgical Centre is Children’s Dental Health Centre’s own day surgery facility, for children who need dental treatment they cannot manage awake. All of their outstanding treatment is completed in one session while they are asleep, cared for by a board-certified pediatric anesthesiologist. We see children from across Calgary and southern Alberta, and children come to us on a referral from their own dentist, or through our own practice.
A three year old with decay in several teeth is not going to sit through four separate appointments. A child with significant sensory needs may not manage one. In both cases the answer is not to keep trying and failing, it is to do the work properly, once, while they are asleep.
What a child in that position needs is not more willpower. It is the work done safely, completely, and in a way that does not leave them frightened of dentistry for the next twenty years.
Who we see
A two or three year old with decay in several teeth cannot stay still long enough to have it done awake, and no amount of patience changes that.
Where fear has made treatment impossible, and repeated distressing attempts are doing more harm than the treatment itself.
Where sensory, developmental or medical complexity makes a regular dental office genuinely unworkable.
Who gives the anesthetic
This is the part of the day you will worry about most, so it is the part we staff most seriously. Every anesthetic here is given by a board-certified pediatric anesthesiologist.
Medical Director, Pediatric Anesthesiologist
Alberta Children's Hospital
Completed an advanced fellowship in pediatric anesthesiology after his medical school and anesthesia residency. Recognised at the Alberta Children’s Hospital for meticulous attention to detail and commitment to patient safety. Oversees care from preoperative assessment through to recovery, and is active in research, teaching and mentoring.
Pediatric Anesthesiologist
Calgary, Alberta
Earned his medical degree with distinction and completed a specialised fellowship in pediatric anesthesiology after his anesthesia residency. Manages all aspects of pediatric anesthesia and is active in research, education and mentorship within Calgary’s pediatric anesthesia community.
Anesthesia and surgical costs are quoted separately and in full before anything is booked. Nothing about the anesthesia team is an optional extra.
Why asleep, not awake
General anesthesia is never a default here. When we do recommend it, these are the reasons.
Complex work is not safe in a standard dental setting if a child cannot stay still. Being asleep greatly reduces the risk of injury from instruments in a moving mouth.
Untreated decay lets neighbouring teeth drift, which can mean orthodontic work later. Infection in a baby tooth can also damage the adult tooth forming underneath it.
A child who sleeps through treatment does not build up bad memories of the chair. The next checkup starts from nothing, not from a day they would rather forget.
Full access to the mouth means the work is thorough, not rushed, and a series of appointments turns into a single visit.
Treating the source of decay ends both the constant ache and the sharp pain that comes with eating, sleeping and playing.
Untreated dental disease affects eating, sleep, speech, concentration at school and confidence. It is rarely only about teeth.
What we treat
Most children leave with every outstanding thing dealt with.
Fillings, stainless steel and zirconia crowns, all placed in one session, not spread across appointments your child cannot manage.
Removals that are complex, multiple, or beyond what is reasonable to attempt in a dental chair.
Pulpotomies and root canal treatment for baby and permanent teeth, done while your child is fully asleep.
Appliances that hold space for adult teeth when a baby tooth has been lost early.
Trauma needing more repair than can be carried out in an emergency appointment.
Every outstanding piece of treatment completed in a single session. This is the most common reason children come here.
Beyond Calgary
Access to pediatric dental surgery is thin outside the major centres. Families come to us from across southern Alberta, and we plan around the drive so you are not left to work it out on your own.
Being out of town changes how the treatment gets planned, and we plan for it on purpose. As much as possible is settled before you get in the car, so the trip you make is the trip that was needed, and the work is finished in one session, not spread across visits you would have to drive back for.
So tell us when you book. We will keep the number of visits to the minimum and line up the assessment, the health history call and the paperwork, so nothing is left to be discovered on the day.
Start to finish
A medical professional calls to go through your child’s full health history. This call is required. Without it the surgery cannot go ahead.
You are given a check-in time, which is not the surgery start time. Plan for about two hours at the centre, though the visit can be shorter or longer.
No solid food for eight hours before the anesthetic, and clear fluids up to two hours before. Each family is given specific written instructions and we go through them with you beforehand. Those are the ones to follow.
You go through to the children’s pre-operative area. A nurse checks your child’s vital signs, weight and height. Your child can stay in comfortable clothes or change into a gown, and comfort items are welcome.
The anesthesiologist introduces themselves and explains exactly what they will do. Your child’s dentist comes to see you before the procedure to go through the treatment and answer questions. Some children are given a calming medication twenty to thirty minutes beforehand.
One parent goes with your child into the operating room. Anesthesia is given through a mask, which the team describes to children as blowing up a balloon because of the coloured breathing bag. Most children are asleep within five to ten seconds.
The full plan is carried out in one session. Any x-rays that are needed are taken while your child is asleep. A breathing tube supports them during treatment and comes out as soon as they can breathe on their own.
Recovery happens in a private room with monitoring, and usually takes thirty to forty-five minutes. Children often wake up restless. That is the anesthesia wearing off, not pain.
Once your child is settled and drinking, the IV comes out and you go home the same day with written instructions and a number to call, including after hours. Work and school notes are available if you need them.
Finding us
On the southwest edge of the city, in the same building as our South dental office, so you park once.
Fax 403-730-1767
admin@childrensdentalsurgery.ca
Our South dental office is in the same building, so assessments, treatment and follow-up all happen on one site.
South office detailsGood to know
Your child’s anesthesia is provided by a pediatric anesthesiologist, a medical doctor with specialized training and expertise in caring for children under general anesthesia. For most children, anesthesia begins gently with a mask induction, where your child breathes anesthetic gas through a soft mask and gradually falls asleep. This allows your child to go to sleep without needing a needle while awake, when clinically appropriate. Throughout the procedure, your child’s pediatric anesthesiologist is supported by a dedicated team of respiratory therapists, registered nurses, and experienced surgical staff. Your child is continuously monitored from the start of anesthesia through surgery and recovery, with safety, comfort, and individualized care as our highest priorities.
Twice over, through two separate processes. Children’s Dental Surgical Centre is a non-hospital surgical facility accredited by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, and a dental surgical facility accredited by the College of Dental Surgeons of Alberta.
General anesthesia is safe when it is administered by a trained pediatric anesthesiologist and your child is monitored throughout, which is exactly how it works here. The risks are low but not zero, and can include allergic reaction, breathing difficulty or nausea. Your anesthesiologist goes through all of it with you, including a pre-operative discussion on the day of the procedure where they answer questions in more depth.
Extractions, restorations including fillings and stainless steel or zirconia crowns, space maintainers, root canal treatment and pulpotomies, and treatment for dental injuries. Most often it is full mouth rehabilitation, meaning all of a child’s outstanding treatment completed in one session.
Usually it is one of a few situations: your child is young and needs extensive work but cannot stay still for it, anxiety has made treatment impossible, special healthcare needs make a regular dental office unworkable, or your child does not freeze well and we cannot keep them comfortable with local anesthetic alone. If the treatment can reasonably be done awake, we’ll tell you so.
No, and the timing matters. No solid food for eight hours before the anesthetic, and clear fluids such as water or apple juice up to two hours before. Your child can brush their teeth as long as they do not swallow. Every family is given specific written instructions and we review them with you before the appointment, and those instructions are the ones to follow. If your child has eaten or drunk something after the cutoff, call us rather than keeping quiet about it. It is not a problem we cannot work around, but it has to be a problem we know about.
One parent goes with your child into the operating room and stays until they are asleep, which takes only a few seconds. You rejoin them in the recovery room afterwards. A parent must remain at the centre the whole time your child is being cared for.
Plan for about two hours at the centre, though the total visit can be shorter or longer. The treatment itself is usually a good deal shorter than that, and your dentist will give you an estimate at the consultation.
Yes, and it’s a large part of what the centre is for. Families travel in from across southern Alberta, so we plan around the drive. As much as possible is arranged before you leave home, and because all the treatment is finished in one session, there is no series of return visits to make.
It varies with the procedure, the anesthetic and the child, so there is no single number. Your child is monitored in a private recovery room throughout. Children often wake restless or upset, which is the anesthesia wearing off rather than pain. They go home once the clinical team confirms the discharge criteria have been met, and you leave with written instructions for care at home.
Because the work needs doing properly and your child cannot stay still for it safely. Untreated decay in baby teeth is not harmless: neighbouring teeth drift, which can mean orthodontic treatment later, and infection can damage the adult tooth developing underneath. Doing it asleep also means your child doesn’t build up bad memories of dentistry.
You are given a detailed estimate covering both the surgical and anesthesia costs before anything is booked. Many insurance plans cover dental surgery, and the office verifies your coverage and explains any out-of-pocket cost in advance.
Not through our office directly. Families can apply for financing through a third-party provider such as Dentalcard, where approval and the repayment terms are set by that provider rather than by us. Our team can also help you look at programmes you may qualify for: the Burns Memorial Fund Oral Health Program, for Calgary children and young people under 21 in low-income situations with urgent or significant dental needs, which requires a dentist’s treatment plan and does not fund routine check-ups, exams, x-rays or orthodontics; the Alberta Child Health Benefit, for eligible dental services for children in qualifying low-income Alberta families; and the Canadian Dental Care Plan, for eligible families without access to private dental insurance. Ask us and we will go through which of these might apply.
Not necessarily. Children reach the surgical centre two ways. Some are already patients here, having joined our prevention program, and the assessment is part of their ongoing care. Others come on a referral from a general dentist, pediatrician or specialist about treatment that needs a general anesthetic, and that referring dentist gets a consultation letter back from us.
