My son was so anxious about the dentist that we ended up going to a pediatric dentist. The regular dentist was clueless when it came to dealing with a special needs kid. It was probably one of the best things we could have done. This dentist even had a day of special office hours (of course for more $$) for patients that were super anxious, like my son. On that day the appointment slots were longer so there was no hurry and he single booked so there was no one in the waiting room to hear them cry or whine. It might be worth considering if you can find one in your area and your insurance will pay.

Did you look at a very short acting stimulant like adderall? (Not the extended release) I know adderal is a huge problem for a lot of the kids (I think Michele has a good recent post on that), but C seems to be able to tolerate it in very small, well spaced doses. Without it he can't concentrate. But at what would be considered a decent dose, he's all over the place. So he takes 7.5mg in the morning and 5mg in the lafternoon. Put the doses to close togther, and watch out! He weighs about 100lbs and that's as much as he seems to be able to tolerate. His pdoc suggested adderall becuase it doesn't have quite the rebound when it wears off, but it's out of their system pretty quick if they have a problem with it. He also takes Depakote and Risperidal, so I'm not sure how it would be if he wasn't taking those also.