Sedation dentistry is basically the application of soothing tactics like anesthesia to keep patients relaxed during the usually painful act of dental treatment and repairs. People having dentistry phobia, especially children and those required to be in the treatment seat for prolonged periods of time are the ones who are put under sedation by dentists.
Sedation does not really mean total sleep, but in dentistry, it is a process of putting the patients under a trance to assuage fear, pain or any uncomfortable feeling.
The dentist determines the level and type of sedation required for a patient before starting the treatment procedure. Some are administered intravenous drugs for deep sedation, but most patients require moderate sedation only with oral sedatives, nitrous oxide etc.
People with dental phobia usually fear the dentist, his office and even the equipment and hesitate to visit a dentist even in acute situations. Some others suffer from dental anxiety, which is a lesser form of dental phobia. In both cases, the patients suffer greatly due to his inability to avail the services of a dentist and the resultant poor dental health. Children also have to be dragged to the dentist against their wishes.
Sedation dentistry helps such people to be kept in check and relaxed throughout the treatment process. Oral sedatives are enough to sooth the nerves of patients if the process is of shorter durations. But they are not pain relievers and a local anesthetic is usually injected for the purpose. The same is the case with intravenous sedation and inhalation sedation too. If the process is time consuming and tiresome, general anesthesia is applied to keep the patient unconscious. Since the patient is totally out of senses, local anesthetic is not needed at all.
The effect of these sedation dentistry tactics differs from person to person. Nitrous oxide gas, or laughing gas, is best suited for anxiolysis or light sedation. Moderate sedation can be achieved by an intravenous sedative. In both the cases, the patient would be awake. Deep sedation brings about a state between unconsciousness and consciousness and the patient is extremely relaxed but able to respond to commands. Very deep sedation or unconsciousness is achieved by applying anesthesia and is used usually while performing oral surgeries.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.massagebyben.com/articles/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites 