Belle, I'm so glad that you posted about this, and that your son is doing better. My DS6 just went through a "trauma" this week, and I was looking for advice about extreme sensitivities.
We found out last week that DS had a small cavity (because a back tooth chipped and the protective enamel was missing). He seemed brave when I took him in for his filling and was talking about how he wasn't at all scared. The dentist is AMAZING with videos/headphones/cute apparatus/you name it.
However, the second the "jelly" went in his mouth, he went into an extreme panic, screaming hysterically that he couldn't breathe. They stopped and talked with him and showed him everything, but he kept having the same reaction. After 20 minutes of calming and showing him what was happening didn't work, I approved the nitrous oxide (in a cute little bubblegum flavored elephant nose!), but that did nothing for him. They ended up putting him in a kangaroo pouch (straightjacket!) and a psychologist-trained nurse sat on him and whispered to him while the dentist and hygenist calmly explained everything, but he was still screaming and hyperventilating for over an hour. It was AWFUL! He was in such a panic that he couldn't even make eye contact with me when I was soothing him, and afterwards didn't even remember my being there next to him. (I would've stopped it, but our next option would've been sedation at the hospital, and I knew it would be worse if we had to go home and take him back to that.)
Then, the second it all came out of his mouth, he calmed down, decided it wasn't so bad, and went off for his stickers.
Luckily, so far he hasn't had flashbacks. I understand what happened because my monkey mind has a way of spreading fear over rationality too, but I've learned to put it in check. I need to figure out a way to help him do the same thing. As a 6 year old boy, I'm pretty sure he's going to face tougher things than a cavity filling, and I need to find a way for him to learn to cope.
