Dentist visits are a challenge for us also. I've been taking my 10-year old son to the dentist since he was 2. It's gotten better over the years but we still have to help hold him down to get the cleanings done. We've been able to have the same dental assistant for the last few years and that helps too since my son likes her and she's wonderful with him. We take him every 3 months for cleanings so that they go faster. We did sedate him when it came time to put sealant on his back molars and they were finally able to get xrays at the same time.

Our regular dentist referred us to a specialist who had other special needs patients. We did have to semi anesthetize him once or twice.

It has always been a nightmare for us, so much that if its not a medical neccesity we don't do it.
So far I have yet to take him to see a dentist for the first time ans he is 4.
But I have learned recently about social stories that help and that there are doctors out there that knows how to treat autietic children. I am very excited as I am about to book his first dentist app this month and I was told that the children are able to come several times before the doctor actually does anything... so maybe not much help... but I wanted to share

Our dentist didn't want to try to put a filling in our son because he was "full of the wiggles." He sent him to a pediatric dentist who gave him a twilight drug to semi knock him out for the procedure. That was a huge fail. The whole ordeal was so distressing to him that now he sits perfectly still for our dentist so he won't have to go back there.