Even the least fearful among us tend to have a few phobias hidden within their psyches. And for some, dentists and orthodontists tend to elicit a few. The fear of dentists and dentistry work is known as odontophobia. It is perfectly natural, and luckily not something that you have to deal with if you feel like you can’t handle it. There are a lot of options for those who can’t handle a trip to the dentist. The bulk of them revolve around sedation dentistry, of which there are quite a number of benefits and a few different ways to go about it.
No Need for a Specialist
Physically, sedation works by administering sedative inhalants (inhaled sedation), like nitrous oxide (“laughing gas”), and keeping the patient relaxed and comfortable, potentially slightly asleep, or “sedated” enough to not worry about the ongoing care. There is also oral sedation (which takes the form of a pill), IV sedation, and also general anesthesia.
In sedation dentistry, but especially for general anesthesia, the range from conscious, to sedated, to unconscious, to respiratory depression (which can be fatal) is a narrow window. That is the reason why anesthesiology is an entire field of medicine which requires specific study. But with sedation dentistry, you can avoid having to pay for a full-blown anesthesiologist.
Ease Your Anxieties
Sedation dentistry can help ease your anxiety, and stop new anxieties from forming in the future. The immediate advantage is of course that you are significantly more relaxed, and can bear the procedures. This is caused by the relaxed state from the route of sedation you and the doctor choose. For a lot of us, is the thought of a bad experience from the doctor that informs our current fears. Especially when you’re young and unable to communicate your emotional state, your dentist may have under-medicated you with local anesthetic, causing you to experience more feeling than necessary.
This is once again helped by the analgesia from the sedation, but also by the fact that sedation generally causes short-term amnesia, so you don’t have to have new memories form and deal with the memory of dental work. That will stop any recurring new phobias from occurring in the future.
Comfortably Numb
And as just touched upon, it will offer you analgesia and a significant numbing effect. This will ensure that your dentist does not under-medicate you and inadvertently expose you to a bad experience with pain. This is one of the primary benefits, the one that applies to even those who do not have bad experiences with the dentist.
While you won’t have to deal with the memories of the experience, you will be responsive if needed by the doctor. While you will not be fully cognizant, you are still responsive enough to respond to questions the dentist asks. You’ll be able to follow simple instructions like “open your mouth” or “spit”, which means that the procedure can also go by faster and take up less time. This makes the entire dental experience shorter.
If you would like to inquire about sedation dentistry, contact us to get more information and to schedule an appointment.
