Sedation Dentistry

If you shudder at the thought of seeing the dentist and actively avoid essential dental care until absolutely necessary, then sedation dentistry is for you! Here at Gentle Dental Arts, we have extensive experience in treating and helping people who feel particularly nervous when seeing a dentist. Our dentist, Dr. Alexander Larsen is extremely gentle with all our patients, but especially when seeing anyone with dental fears. When you visit our dental office, you can be sure of receiving compassionate, respectful dental treatment from a friendly team that truly cares about your health and well-being.

Lots of people do feel nervous when seeing a dentist, perhaps because of a previous bad experience and often dental fears and phobias can be inadvertently passed on from adults to children. If your parents were afraid of the dentist, then there is a good chance you will have picked up on these feelings, even though your parents may have tried very hard not to pass them on. Whatever the reason for your dental anxiety, we have the solution, using advanced sedation dentistry to ensure you feel completely comfortable and relaxed during your appointments.

What Is Sedation Dentistry?

Sedation dentistry uses sedatives to help people feel more relaxed during treatment. The exact level of sedation can be precisely adjusted according to your needs for example, someone with quite severe dental anxieties or who needs an extensive amount of treatment may benefit from intravenous sedation. This provides a deeper level of sedation compared to oral conscious sedation which gives a lighter level of sedation that can be useful for calming nervous patients.

Times to Consider Sedation Dentistry?

As well as treating people with dental anxieties, sedation dentistry can be useful for people who need quite a lot of treatment to help restore dental health, or who require lengthy and complex procedures. We may recommend sedation dentistry for people who have particularly strong gag reflexes, or when treating young children or people with special needs. If you require wisdom teeth removal, we may suggest sedation dentistry, especially if your wisdom teeth are impacted or infected. There is no need to be concerned as this is often just a precautionary measure to ensure the removal is as smooth and as comfortable as possible. With sedation dentistry, Dr. Larsen can complete an extensive amount of dental work during one comfortable visit.

How Will I Know Which Type of Sedation Dentistry Is Best for Me?

When you first contact our dental office then it’s best to explain to our friendly receptionist how you feel about treatment so that Dr. Larsen can talk to you during your appointment to discover how best to help you. He will need to determine the level of your fears and anxieties, to provide the correct type of sedation method. Each sedation method is carefully tailored to match the needs of the patient, helping to ensure you receive the most comfortable experience possible. During this visit, Dr. Larsen will also explain how all possible treatment options could help you and exactly what is involved with every method. The method suggested may also depend on your general health. Options include oral sedation and intravenous or IV sedation.

Oral Conscious Sedation

This treatment is ideal if you have mild to moderate anxiety as you will simply need to take an oral sedative a short while before your appointment. The strength of sedative supplied can be adjusted to suit your needs. By the time you see our dentist, you should feel nicely relaxed, calm and comfortable. During your treatment, you will still be awake but your memories of what has happened are likely to be pleasantly fuzzy. You will need someone with you to bring you to the dental office and who can take you home.

Intravenous Sedation

This form of sedation is administered intravenously (IV sedation) and takes effect within a few seconds so that you will soon feel extremely relaxed. Most people who receive IV sedation do not remember anything about their appointment although you will still be able to respond to our dental team during your appointment. However, you may feel so relaxed and comfortable that you even fall asleep during treatment. The amount of sedative administered can be adjusted to provide you with the most comfortable experience. With this sedation method, you will need someone who can bring you and take you home after your appointment and who can stay with you for the rest of the day. This is a purely precautionary measure, just to make sure you are okay.

Ensuring Sedation Dentistry Is Safe for You

Dr. Larsen will carefully assess your medical history to make sure sedation dentistry is safe and appropriate for you. Every precaution is taken to make sure you are safe during treatment, and during sedation, you will be carefully and continually monitored. Once your treatment is completed then we will keep you with us for a short while. This is just to make sure you feel completely okay before you go home.

Helping You to More Comfortably Receive Treatment in the Future

Sedation dentistry is ideal for helping people to receive urgent or necessary dental care to restore dental health. You can comfortably enjoy a healthy smile once more and it can be a good way of helping you to overcome dental fears and anxieties. Once you have good dental health then you should find it easier to maintain, following a good preventative dental care program at home and by coming to see us at regular intervals for checkups and cleanings. Our experienced dental team can work with you, providing useful information on how to brush and floss effectively and comfortably, showing you new techniques and tools that you may find easier to use.

When you know you have looked after your teeth correctly then it can help relieve some of the fears and anxieties when seeing the dentist. With ongoing preventative dental care, regular checkups can quickly detect any small problems, at which stage they are much easier and more comfortable to treat. If you do need any treatment, then it’ll be less invasive and most likely much cheaper as advanced dental problems often require complex and lengthy treatments. Often, thanks to a good dental care regime, your visit may simply be a case of having your teeth carefully examined and cleaned, before we send you on your way with a clean bill of health for another six months. Imagine, you can smile, talk and laugh with the confidence of knowing your smile is beautifully maintained and healthy, having successfully conquered your dental anxieties.

Does sedation dentistry sound like an interesting solution for you? Call us at 385-233-9823 or contact us online to discover much more about how our sedation options could help you.