Sedation Dentistry

We typically use conscious sedation or IV sedation for several different types of patients. The first and most obvious is a patient that has extreme fear and anxiety about having dental work done. A lot of our patients have put off having work done for a number of years, which has allowed those problems to progress to a point that they might not should've gotten to. So with sedation dentistry we're able to get them in the office, ease those fears, get them very, very comfortable, if not asleep, do any work that might be needed. They're completely relaxed and comfortable the whole time. And then when the procedure's over, they have very little recollection of anything that had to be done. Some patients are very comfortable and very fine with just using the nitrous gas. It just induces a state of relaxation and makes the dental procedure go by in a blink of an eye. That patient's still able to drive themselves to the office. They're completely fine after the procedure to drive home. You can go back to work, you can go to the store and do your shopping, pick up the kids, whatever needs to be done. The second patient would maybe quality for oral sedation, conscious sedation which is sedation in pill form. We give them some medication the night before to take to help get a restful night's sleep. We usually get them in early in the morning, give them some more medicine to take before their appointment, and they're in a little deeper state of relaxation. With that patient, they do need a driver and they'll need someone to stay with them the rest of the day. IV sedation is the highest form of sedation we offer. It is drugs that are put in an IV. But we still usually give them some medication before that to relax. All of our doctors are certified with oral conscious sedation and some with IV sedation. So we're able to treat just about any patient with any severity of problems and any level of anxiety that they might have.