Sedation Dentistry

Sedation Dentistry has quickly gained both momentum and popularity because it offers patients a way to feel more comfortable at the dentist.  Children and adults alike often associate dentistry with pain, and fear of that pain often results in dental phobia.   While some individuals view a trip to the dentist as a normal, ordinary life event, others can see it as a nightmare.  The downside to having a fear of the dentist is that men and women let their oral health slide.  More often than not, by neglecting routine visits to the dentist, they end up needing extensive repair that can be more painful, more costly and more time consuming.  Dentists have quickly realized that if patients had a better way to visit the dentist, they’d keep  up on their oral health.  This is where sedation dentistry comes into play.

Sedation dentistry is a new dentistry technique that is designed to calm patients’ anxiety.  Pharmacological agents are used to help patients reach a state of total relaxation in order to calm those who are afraid of dental procedures.  Sedation dentistry is a form of dentistry that uses sedatives in order to depress the central nervous system, mainly those areas that are concerned with conscious awareness. 

Depending on the individual as well as the procedure they are undergoing, the dentist will choose a level of sedation that will benefit both parties; sedation levels can range from minimal to moderate to deep.  Minimal sedation will merely reduce anxiety—patients will still have the ability to respond to physical and verbal stimulation.  Moderate sedation will promote a higher degree of relaxation and patients will only respond to purposeful stimulation.  Deep sedation will create a level of unconsciousness and patients will be totally unresponsive to all levels of stimulation.

Sedation dentistry is often also referred to as sleep dentistry because patients feel drowsy with the effects of the sedative. To understand further it is important to know that general anesthesia alone does not equate to sedation dentistry.  There are four possible methods of sedation that can be combined to create the level of sedation a particular patient needs.  These include:

• Oral Sedatives – Oral sedatives can be provided to a patient either a half an hour prior to the procedure or the night before the procedure. This sedative will relax patients but does not provide relief from the pain, so a local anesthetic injection will also be required.
  
• Nitrous Oxide – Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) sedation is often used for relaxing patients. Local anesthetic will also be used combination with nitrous oxide to get rid of any pain that may be involved.
  
• Intravenous (IV) Sedation – Sedation via IV is not for providing relief from pain, instead it provides a deeper sedation when compared to oral sedations.  Combining IV sedation with a local anesthetic helps to keep the patients calm and the pain at bay.
  
• General Anesthesia – General anesthesia is only used for deep sedation, as it renders the patient unconscious. This form of sedation enables the patient to be absolutely unaware of his surroundings throughout the entire procedure.

With sedation dentistry, those dental procedures that take a long time to complete will go smoothly and will seem as if they only took a few minutes.  Patients who have a real fear of the dentist can feel confident that with sedation dental tactics, their entire experience would be an anxiety free one. Sedation dentistry is a great way to allow dental phobic’s to maintain good oral and dental health.