A trip to the dentist can be a traumatic experience for patients with dental anxiety that can cause weeks of anxiety and fear leading up to your appointment. It can also lead to dental problems and become an obstacle to caring for your oral health. In fact, 22% of dental appointments are canceled because patients fear the dentist.
Luckily, there are specialty dentists for nervous patients. This practice is called “sedation dentistry.” There are several ways to administer sedation to nervous patients, but the outcome and goal are the same.
Sedation dentistry helps relax and soothe nervous patients, create a more pleasant experience, and reduce the possibility of anxiety attacks or other unpleasant reactions.
Dean Dental Solutions has offered sedation dentistry in North Little Rock for over 20 years. It is a safe and effective way to help you overcome your dental anxiety and adequately care for your teeth. If you’re looking for the best sedation dentist in North Little Rock, look no further.
What Is Sedation Dentistry?
Sedation dentistry is exactly what it sounds like. Your dentist administers sedative medications to relax the patient during their dental procedure.
This approach is usually reserved by the best sedation dentists in North Little Rock for major dental procedures like root canals and wisdom teeth removal. (This is not the same thing as anesthesia or “sleep” dentistry. Anesthesia dentistry puts you completely under, and you are unconscious during the entire procedure.)
During sedation dentistry, patients are conscious but completely relaxed thanks to the use of sedative drugs.
Sedation dentistry is sanctioned by the American Dental Association and considered safe for most adult patients. Just look for a dentist with years of sedation dentistry experience.
Types of Sedation That We Offer
There are several medications that are used to sedate anxious dental patients. They all fall into one of the following three categories.
Laughing Gas
The first and most widely known sedative option for anxious patients is nitrous oxide, or “laughing gas.” This is a mild sedative that relaxes the patient but wears off very quickly after the procedure. You will be awake and completely aware during your dental visit, but you will be much less anxious.
Laughing gas is administered through a mask placed over your nose. Your dentist will ask you to breathe deeply and you should feel the effects within a few minutes. After the mask is removed, the effects will also wear off within a few minutes.
Laughing gas is best for patients who experience dental anxiety and are undergoing minor dental procedures like cleanings. Laughing gas does not numb pain, so your dentist may recommend using laughing gas along with local anesthetic for more uncomfortable procedures.
Oral Sedation
Oral sedation is a medication that is taken in pill form. It is a prescription medication prescribed by your dentist. There are many types of oral sedatives. Discuss any health issues and additional medications with your dentists to ensure that you’re choosing the right one for you.
Oral sedatives often take between twenty minutes and an hour to take full effect. Your dentist will likely prescribe your oral sedative before your procedure and ask you to take it before you arrive.
However, it’s important to remember that oral sedatives will make you very sleepy and impede your usual ability to function. So have someone drive you to the dentist and wait to drive you back home.
IV Sedation
IV sedation is administered “intravenously” or through your veins. An IV line will be inserted and the medication will be continuously fed to your system.
IV sedation is fast-acting and helps control pain as well as anxiety. If your dentist needs to perform multiple procedures, they will likely suggest IV sedation.
Best Sedation Dentist in North Little Rock
If you are looking for the best dentist in NLR for anxiety and dental phobia, Dean Dental Solutions is here to help. We have over 20 years of experience in sedation dentistry, and we have helped hundreds of patients with dental anxiety overcome their fears and care for their oral health.
If you need a compassionate, experienced dentist for patients with anxiety, make an appointment with Dean Dental Solutions today!
It’s really helpful to read the other kinds of methods you can apply dental sedation. Things like laughing gas sound a lot more manageable for my son so he won’t have to worry about any kind of injection. I’ll help him get the treatments he needs by asking a sedation dentist to help him out right away.
It’s amazing how sedation dentistry could help you relax and break away from anxiety during your dental treatment. My brother talked about one of his colleagues is having a hard time enjoying food because of tooth pain. I’ll be sure to talk to him about this so he can try it out if the pain is bothering them too much.
The different methods that sedation dentistry can offer are something that I’m really interested in. A specific method could probably be exactly what my kid could use when working on his teeth so that extractions and other procedures won’t scare him too much. I’ll go and look around for any sedation dentistry experts that can help my son out with what he needs.