Our team of experienced and compassionate dental healthcare professionals will treat patients who have struggled with severe dental anxiety or fear their entire lives and this has been made possible through sedation dentistry in our dental offices.
Sleep or sedation dentistry refers to a dental treatment that is performed under the effects of sedative medications. These perfectly safe medications can be administered in a number of ways, depending on the type of procedure being performed and/or the wishes of the patient. And they enable a particularly nervous patient to receive the treatment they need to maintain an excellent standard of oral health without the horrible fear and anxiety they typically experience. The great thing about sleep dentistry is that the body easily metabolizes the medication used, so patients need not fret about feeling awful afterward or suffering a “hangover”.
The removal of fear and anxiety is just one of the many benefits of sleep dentistry. Sedation also enables our dentists to work without worrying about a patient who is terribly nervous. Procedures that might otherwise have to be broken down into smaller, more manageable sessions can be done in a single appointment without causing patients any undue stress or discomfort, which also benefits them in terms of cost and the results they can enjoy.
Sedation dentistry not only helps anxious patients; it’s also great for those with a delicate gag reflex. Sedation has the effect of relaxing the muscles, thus enabling the dentist to get right into your mouth without causing you to gag.
Every patient has something slightly different to say with regards to sedation dentistry. What they do have in common is that they feel totally relaxed and peaceful. Everything that used to bother them, such as the sound of the drill or the appearance of a needle, suddenly doesn’t anymore. All traditional fears are effectively removed. You can feel extremely sleepy when sedated, but in the most pleasant way imaginable. It also induces short-term amnesia, so you won’t remember it afterward.
You have the choice of either swallowing one or two sedative tablets about 30 minutes before your appointment, or we can provide a Nitrous Oxide “laughing gas” mask. For longer and more complex procedures, intravenous (IV) sedation is available.
You might feel embarrassed about your acute fear or anxiety associated with seeing the dentist or with receiving dental treatment, but actually, such an affliction is incredibly common! At our dental office, we understand that those bi-annual trips to the dentist can be incredibly uncomfortable for patients, whether their fears and insecurities can be rationalized or not. What we do not support is avoidance of dental treatment because of these fears and insecurities.
Our team of experienced and compassionate dental healthcare professionals has treated patients who have struggled with severe phobia their entire lives and this has been made possible through sedation dentistry.