Anesthetic and sedation options are available to prevent you from feeling pain and discomfort during your dental procedure. There are several methods available and several may be combined to give you complete coverage. The type of sedation or anesthesia used will depend on your personalized treatment plan, your personal needs and the expert opinion of your dentist or specialist.
Sometimes the fear and worry can feel worse than the treatment itself. Dental anxiety shouldn’t stand between you and the dental treatment you need. If you have mild or extreme dental anxiety or fear is keeping you from seeking dental treatment, please speak up! We can help.
For long procedures that leave you sitting in the chair with your mouth wide open for a long time, sedation will keep you relaxed and comfortable. Your procedure will be over before you know it. If you require IV sedation, it will feel like an instant has passed.
Do you have a sensitive gag reflex? Chronic restlessness or restless leg syndrome? Does local freezing just not work for you? Sedation is really helpful in many different cases, ensuring that treatment is available to everyone.
The different kinds of sedation available can be summed up into three major groups. We can temporarily numb the small area receiving the work, You can be sedated so you are still awake but completely relaxed, or you can sleep through your procedure with general anesthesia. Here’s some more information about each group:
Rest assured that we talk to each and every one of our patients to understand their medical history to decide if sedation dentistry is the right option for you.
Sedation will make you feel drowsy and relaxed pretty quickly. Some people report feeling a mild tingly sensation. You may also experience mild amnesia afterwards and may not remember anything from the procedure.
Most sedation dentistry options don’t actually involve patients being put to sleep. Rather sedation dentistry allows patients to feel extremely relaxed. You may not even remember any of the procedure once it’s over.
When sedation is involved we always stress the importance of having a friend or family member drive you home and keep you company. It’s important to let the sedation wear off completely and give your body a rest before returning to your regular routine.
If you’ve been sedated for your dental procedure we would advise you to take the day off to recover. A good rule of thumb is to set aside 24-hours before returning to your regular routine. The time it takes for any drowsiness to pass will depend on what kind of sedation you receive but may be somewhere between 2 to 8 hours.
