Do You Feel Pain with Sedation Dentistry?
Do you try to avoid dental visits because of the common apprehension called dental phobia? Perhaps you are not keeping abreast with the latest in dentistry and neglecting dental care because you think dental visits are scary and painful.
Your fear of dentists is not an isolated case because roughly 30 percent of the population avoids dentists because of similar apprehensions. Unfortunately, dental phobia is all too common and prevents patients from receiving essential routine dental care to potentially compromise the health and functionality of their mouth and smile.
If you avoid dental visits for the reasons mentioned, you help yourself by discussing sedation dentistry in Mississauga, ON, to ease your fears about dental visits. If you don’t know what sedation dentistry is, kindly read this article for more information.
What Is Sedation?
Sedation is a procedure dentists use to establish a relaxed and calm state with the help of sedatives. You receive sedative drugs such as depressants, tranquillizers, antianxiety medicines, nitrous oxide, et cetera administered in different ways to relax you. Earlier IV sedation delivering sedatives via injection into blood vessels of the hand or arm, was the predominant method of sedating dental patients.
Intravenous sedation is safe and effective when administered by a trained professional. However, the evolution of sedation dentistry provides a more conducive experience to patients who have alternatives to the conventional techniques of inhalation or IVs because dentists offer a no-needle approach indicating no injections that you may find appealing.
Oral sedation dentistry is presently the most common technique used by dentists in the US and Canada to ease patient fears. The method is simple and doesn’t involve the use of needles. The medications provided by the dentist offer a comfortable experience to ensure you do not remember your visit to the rental office. Sedation dentistry doesn’t make you asleep but maintains a consciousness level for your safety and cooperation, although you think you slept through your appointment.
Please note that sedation is not similar to anesthesia which remains a requirement even after you are comfortably sedated. Some forms of sedation like nitrous oxide increase your pain threshold, but most dental procedures require local anesthesia injected in the mouth even when sedation dentistry techniques are used.
The local anesthesia temporarily blocks pain impulses from the affected tooth and gums to ensure your comfort during the treatment. However, the dentist provides the election after you are entirely sedated and comfortable and will likely not bother or remember the sensation of receiving the anesthesia.
What Is the Difference between Sedation Dentistry and Sleep Dentistry?
Sedation dentistry has misleadingly been dubbed sleep dentistry. In reality, you do not sleep during your appointment. However, the effects produced by the sedative might make you sleepy.
Sedation dentistry enables the dentist to keep you awake throughout your procedure, feeling relaxed and likely not remembering much about your treatment. Therefore the use of general anesthesia is not similar to sedation dentistry.
Benefits of Sedation Dentistry
The primary benefit of sedation dentistry is that you feel your dental procedure lasted only a few minutes when the dentist may have taken hours to perform. Therefore you can undergo complicated processes like smile makeovers and extensive rebuilding procedures requiring multiple visits to dentists in fewer appointments.
If you are unwilling to change your smile’s appearance because of your fear or anxiety about lengthy and complicated dental procedures, sedation dentistry can put your concerns to rest by making you comfortable during the treatment and help you achieve the smile you can proudly show off.
Sedation dentistry addresses the fears that prevent you from scheduling dental visits regularly. Sedation by itself is merely a technique to relax and calm you. Sedation in no way blocks pain impulses in your mouth. Instead, it makes you relaxed and unaware of your treatment until you receive local anesthesia, making your procedure painless. However, you arrive at the dentist’s office entirely relaxed because you must have the medications an hour before your appointment. Therefore you will likely need help driving in to and from the dentist’s office because sedation renders you ineffective to operate vehicles until you recover from its effects.
Pearl Dental Care comfortably manages your fears of dental visits and their discomfort, providing sedation dentistry. If you need any dental procedure, please schedule your appointment with this practice to realize how sedation dentistry helps you overcome anxiety and pain simultaneously.