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Hi I responded to your post on the other board. My AS used to do this too. He did it at school when he was seemingly bored. He was eventually diagnosed with ADHD and it became clear that he also suffered from FAE. The FAE can affect pain thresholds. I found the child psychiatrists singularly unhelpful. I had a four year battle to get both my children diagnosed with ADHD and put on Ritalin medication. If your child were put on medication for ADHD it could help with curbing impulsivity. They often act very impulsively with no thought for the consequences of their actions. If I were you I would pursue the possible ADHD diagnosis, especially as there is a family history of ADHD, and trial the medication. Lily x

Hi Lily Thank you. I just feel rather at my wits end today. Other behaviours I can manage / limit but I don't have any control over this and perhaps that's my weakness. It's definitely a deliberate self harm / self soothing / sensory thing rather than an excitement about the tooth fairy or keeping up with her peers. I feel dreadful putting a small child through the anxiety she must be feeling but I'm not sure what else I can do. I've made an appt with the psychologist and we'll talk to her again about the meds. Thank you. MMx

It must take a lot of wigglying to loosen a tooth. Sounds awful. Just to say that I agree the ADHD diagnosis and meds are worth pursuing, but I wouldn't say they calm my dd in the sense of reducing anxiety. They help her focus and listen, and reduce the impulsivity, so her behaviour is calmer. But if she is anxious she is still anxious as far as I know. She would maybe be less likely to express it with inappropriate behaviour, if that makes sense. Can't see how pulling teeth relates to ADHD to be honest, but I'm no expert.

Hi Milly I think I was wondering whether (any) meds could help. We use various practical solutions to keep her safe in other ways - stair gate on her bedroom door, covered electric sockets and light switches, no access to our pets, safe areas where she can throw herself about, pull ups when the toileting fails etc but there's nothing I can do to stop her pulling out her teeth or hurting herself in other ways when she is really anxious . I keep her as close as possible and I'm beginning to be able to predict difficult times but I'm not able to be with her 24/7. MMx

Hi, I am well outside my knowledge base here, but just wondering if something simple might help? Could you try an elastic band/ hair bobble on her wrist, so when she needs to hurt, she can ping the band on her wrist? This would give her a bit of an endorphin rush etc but I'm sure is much safer than pulling teeth. I have seen it used in schools with some success with self harmers. Hope the profs can help you soon.Best wishes. Phoebe xx

Kids can lose their primary teeth as young as 4 (if their teeth came through early, then they're more likely to lose them earlier). She'd have to actually KNOCK out a tooth that wasn't ready, and that would almost certainly cause underlying damage (and if she has removed 5, and has no bacterial infection or such like, then maybe these teeth were more or less ready to come out?). You must show the tooth/teeth to a dentist, who will determine whether or not the root is adequately dissolved. If the dentist confirms that the root isn't adequately dissolved, and the tooth has been forcibly removed, that will give you the solid back up you need to seek (immediate) intervention.

Hello, Just to let you know that our ad did this at times and it was deeply distressing to us, as it clearly has been to you. It would be helpful to try and understand her need to do this so I wonder if telling you what was behind blossoms need would help? She did it to 1) FEEL and 2) TEETH are an issue. Prob more complex than this but she felt distressed and then goes numb, Knows she should be feeling things. Gets muddled between physical and emotional pain. Then the teeth are an issue, she was neglected and so no teeth hygiene and knows they hurt and feels. Also tied into this is feeling rubbish and not worthy of being looked after. So To address this. The plan of giving her ice cubes in the freezer to hold against her skin worked The pens to draw red lines on herself worked Popping bubble wrap and complex picking out things, like cleaning Lego blocks, seemed to distract her enough not to head for the bathroom The other thing was to try and pre empt the behaviour and offer lots of lovely chicken soup, snuggly blanket and bath smellies. Lots of nurture. Things that didn't work were showing lots of distress at her tooth pulling And the elastic band on the wrist thing for self harm as she tightened it to go blue.... I know it's upsetting, But interestingly blossom rarely does self harm now and never her teeth.