Sedation dentistry uses a wide range of sedative medications and treatments to relax a patient before a visit or while attending a dentist who is about to undergo dental surgery.

Many people fear a dentist for a multitude of reasons both widely known and personal, some of these being phobias and sedation dentistry can help with these problems. Sedation dentists are a new breed of dentist with magical powers to calm your nerves and shut down your senses.

Pain Free Conscious Sedation Dentistry

Two sedation dentistry favourites and one that you may be familiar with from Carry On films are; Oral conscious sedation and Inhalation sedation which uses nitrous oxide. The latter is a fast working sedative which will possibly make you fall asleep, with dentist chair action easily forgotten.

The oral sedative weakens the senses, so pain, smells and sounds, pain being the dentists tools, smells being the dentists room and the sounds being the drill, with those out of the way, you may just be able to relax that little bit more. These two sedation dentistry options are a Godsend if you have a fear of the needles offered below.

Local, General And Intramuscular Sedation Dentistry

Ask what people fear most about the dentist and they will probably say the sound of the drill or any sound relating to metal on teeth, or the queasy feeling when a local anesthetic is used.

Sedation dentistry can add a second phobia to the list and that being a fear of needles but if you can overcome that option, then you’ll be soon forgetting why you feared the dentist’s chair in the first place.

There are several needle and injection options when it comes to sedation dentistry and a sedation dentist or sedation nurse will be wise to all of these.

The most known are general and local anesthetics. Local as the term implies, is local to the area of operation, so the gum and numbing of nerves, a general anesthetic will knock you out, make you unconscious, that’s the one many wish to avoid.

Another option which is rarely used is Intramuscular Sedation Dentistry, this puts a patient into sedation by way of an injection into thigh or arm muscles. A possible recent development is that of anti anxiety sedatives which are plugged straight into your vein, again by needle and serves as a drip.

The Intravenous (IV) dental sedation which may use sedatives like benzodiazepine and propofol brings on a form of amnesia. If your dentist is beautiful then this is one option you may wish to forget about, however if your fear is heightened and you need work doing, then needle based sedation dentistry could be for you.

Patients Who May Benefit From Sedation Dentistry

Many people don’t go to the dentist for years, sometimes decades and there are two simple reasons, cost and being afraid. Being scared of the dentist is natural but things have changed at dentists around the world.

Many dentists now offer sedation dentistry as part of a helpful aid in relaxing the patient, so that vital or urgent work can be carried out in what they may deem to be the next best thing to a torture room.