Sedation Dentistry and What It Is All About

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Sedation dentistry may have been unheard of before, but recently, it has become one of the more popular things in the world dentistry. And all for good reason — to help patients who have been struggling with dental phobia the ability to visit their dentists for treatments without being so fearful of what laid ahead.

Sedation Dentistry as a Field

Sedation dentistry is the branch of dentistry which makes use of sedatives in order to place patients in a state of calm and peacefulness throughout the entire procedure. Sedation dentistry makes use of different types of sedatives and can render a patient in differing levels of sedation. Depending on the treatment which you are considering, your dentist may decide to only sedate you up to a mild level or put you under deep sedation.

Sedatives

Sedatives are medications which enable patients to relax. While they do not eliminate pain, sedatives help to minimize the patient’s ability to sense pain. For this reason, when sedatives are used in conjunction with local anesthetics, they are extremely effective in allowing the patient to proceed with the treatment with as less discomfort as possible.

Administration

Just like with various drugs, the administration of sedatives will also vary depending on the type of sedative which your dentist decides to use on you. For instance, sedatives like nitrous oxide are administered through inhalation while valium is given orally. Intravenous (IV) infusions are also possible.

Effects

The general effects of sedatives is to bring you to a state of calm wherein the dentist can perform the procedure without the patient actively fretting and moving about. However, this degree of peacefulness will essentially change depending on the sedative which is used. For instance, nitrous oxide may only make you feel relaxed and giddy in your seat but not exactly enough to make you become less responsive to stimuli. In fact, some sedatives may put patients at the edge of consciousness wherein they aren’t able to respond to stimuli anymore.

Eligibility

Not everyone can be suitable for sedation dentistry in Sacramento. Your dentist would have to assess your history of medication in order for your dentist to be able to deem if you can safely receive sedatives or not. Individuals who have already had adverse reactions to sedatives such as benzodiazepines according to their charts may not be able to take advantage of sedation dentistry although other alternatives, such as general anesthesia, are available.

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