Going to the dentist can cause fear in the heart of the strongest man. It was for exactly that person that sedation dentistry procedures were developed. For more than 20 years, advanced dentists have used sedation dentistry to help their patients with pain and terror that sometimes can accompany dental visits. Sedation has been used for an extended period of time for dental work that took hours to perform. Gum surgeries, complex extractions, and other periodontal procedures required a lot of time in the dental chair. The discomfort to the patient of these long procedures indicated the need for a better way.
Sedation dentistry can be administered in three different methods. Combinations of these methods are used at times to keep the dental patient comfortable during extensive procedures. Oral administration of certain sedatives, inhalation of sedatives like laughing gas, or through the injection of drugs into the blood stream are the sedation methods.
I’ve had sedation dentistry used for all the major kinds of dental work you can have. Impacted teeth that required extensive cutting of the gum for removal was one use. Preparation for a bridge installation, which required grinding the enamel of teeth into points so the bridge could be installed was another. Even deep scaling and planing of teeth below the gums can be done with the use of sedation dentistry.
Sedation dentistry removes the pain and increases the comfort of the dental patient. You don’t feel or remember much if any of the procedure. You also can get more work done by the dentist in fewer visits. This helps particularly if you have to leave work or take a day off to have extensive dental work. The fewer visits means the less work missed.
Dentists want comfortable, happy, healthy patients. Sedation dentistry has been a major advancement in making those goals a reality.