In denial of a dental problem until the pain is unbearable
Have not received professional dental care in many years, perhaps decades
Go from dentist to dentist, or doctors, to renew painkiller prescriptions for dental problems
Often make and then cancel dental appointments
Make numerous, lengthy phone calls to the dentist's office
Experience sweaty palms or find yourself gripping the armrests …if yes, then you're a candidate!
Recent research has indicated that the number one reason adults postpone needed dental care was fear! That's right, not time, not money, but fear! Yet dental decay and periodontal disease do not take exceptions!
Types of Dental Sedation
There are three types of dental sedation methods used by our dental office.
Nitrous Oxide Sedation
In one form of conscious inhalation sedation, nitrous oxide gas (also known as laughing gas) is used to induce a state of relaxation. A local anesthetic will be administered in combination with nitrous oxide sedation to eliminate pain. Although not enough for everyone nitrous oxide is effective for some patients.
Oral Sedatives
Oral sedative medications such as halcion can be given to a patient the night before a dentistry procedure or 30 minutes to an hour before the dental appointment, depending on the severity of the anxiety. Oral sedatives do not provide pain relief, so an injection of local anesthetic will also be administered.
Many of our patients are needle-phobic so they would not like to be told that we must use a needle to sedate them.
With oral sedation we can work on patients for a longer period of time.
Oral sedation is very safe.
The pills stay in a patients system for several hours after the appointment, so we get few complaints of pain after procedures are completed.
Intravenous (IV) Sedation
"Sleep dentistry" or "twilight sleep" are terms for IV sedation. This is confusing, because it suggests that IV sedation involves being put to sleep. In reality, you remain conscious during IV sedation. You will also be able to understand and respond to requests from your dentist.
However, you may not remember much about what went on because of two factors: firstly, in most people, IV sedation induces a state of deep relaxation and a feeling of not being bothered by what's going on. Secondly, the drugs used for IV sedation can produce either partial or full memory loss (amnesia) for the period of time when the drug first kicks in until it wears off. As a result, time will appear to pass very quickly and you will not recall much, or perhaps even nothing at all, of what happened. So it may, indeed, appear as if you were "asleep" during the procedure. For the great majority of patients this technique is very effective in providing total comfort during dental treatment and many times all your treatment will be provided in one appointment.
Like oral sedatives, intravenous (IV) sedation does not provide pain relief, so an injection of local anesthetic will also be administered in conjunction with this method of dental sedation.
Family Dentistree 3850 South Osprey Avenue Sarasota, FL 34239 (941) 952-1790 Email
