Dentist Fear Can Be Relieved By Sedation
If you are like me you avoided going to the dentist at all costs
. The stress, the sounds, the needles, and the pain that I remembered from previous visits all seemed to overwhelm me. This has led to me not going to the dentist and neglecting the need for proper oral care with the result, of course, being more painful and stressful procedures. Recently, however, I discovered a new way to be able to have a check up without all the trauma and stress. It is called a sedation dentist.
In this option the doctor uses anesthesia to put a patient into a calm and relaxed state. This technique is a good choice for both adults with fears and for children who cannot sit still in the chair. The misconception is often that the doctor puts the patient to sleep but in fact most people are awake the whole time just very relaxed. In fact, many people find they do not remember the procedure at all.
Although sedation is the blanket term to describe any procedure in which the patient is drugged there are a variety of options when it comes to what is used. Usually which drug is used depends largely on the type of procedure being done but your dentist will also take into account your level of anxiety and his medical opinion in determining a course of treatment. There are four main methods that he may use.
The first, oral sedatives are given to the patient up to 18 hours before hand but more often are administered right before the appointment. These are usually just calming medicines like Valium or another benzodiazepine. Now while these do wonders for reducing anxiety they are not painkillers and so an injected painkiller like Novocain must still be administered.
The second method is the administration of sedatives intravenously. As with the oral medicines these do not provide any anesthetic effect and thus painkillers must still be injected.
One of the most commonly used methods today is a mild inhalation of nitrous oxide, laughing gas, given through a nose breather while the patient is being worked on. This medicine causes a state of relaxation and elation that allows the dentist to give painkillers and do procedures without fear of a restless person.
Finally there is the option for general anesthesia. This option is the least common and most dangerous. Andy depression of the central nervous system greatly increases the risk of complications. The only real upside is that this method eliminates the need for local anesthetic, as the individual is completely unaware of their surroundings. This minor benefit is greatly outweighed by the dangers and should only be used in the most desperate cases.
With the facts firmly in hand you should feel comfortable contacting your local oral physician and discussing whether this type of procedure is right for you.
by: Andrew Stratton
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