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Friday: 8:10am - 5:00pm
If you experience a little apprehension before a dental visit, you're not alone. Even though modern dentistry is more comfortable than ever before, dental anxiety is not an uncommon occurrence. According to statistics, it affects an estimated 36% of the population, with about 12% suffering extreme anxiety.
At Delgado Dental Group, we provide skilled, compassionate care and strive to make every dental visit a comfortable, positive, and stress-free experience. We understand that some patients may get very anxious when it comes to dentistry or apprehensive about a particular procedure. For these reasons, we offer options in dental sedation.
For every service we offer and every procedure we perform, we keep our patients well-informed every step of the way. Our dental team will explain the types of dental sedation we offer in our office and answer all your questions throughout treatment. In addition to ensuring you feel most at ease, sedation typically makes a lengthy procedure feel like it's over in just a few minutes. Although you'll feel completely relaxed while sedated, you'll still be able to respond to verbal cues from our dentist. You just won't feel bothered by the moment-to-moment details of treatment. We'll also tell you what to expect following the procedure, how long you can expect to feel its effects, and if the type of sedation you're receiving requires someone to accompany you home following treatment.
Dental sedation is different than local anesthesia. Local anesthesia, which we provide when performing many dental procedures to eliminate the associated discomfort, involves injecting a local anesthetic directly into, or close to, the treatment area. While it eliminates any sensation of pain in the targeted area, it does not affect your state of mind oranxiety level. For patients who experience dental anxiety or need to feel more relaxed during a particular procedure, we offer dental sedation to help ease anxiety and promote a less taxing and peaceful treatment experience.
Choosing the most appropriate method of in-office, conscious sedation for a procedure depends on a variety of factors, such as a patient's medical history and their level of anxiety. Conscious sedation is a medical procedure that uses sedative medications to induce a state of relaxation and reduced awareness while maintaining the patient's ability to respond to verbal commands.
The three in-office dental sedation methods listed below fall into the category of conscious sedation:
At Delgado Dental Group, we're dedicated to the care and comfort of our patients and utilize safe, controlled, and supervised sedation techniques to alleviate anxiety, making it easier and less stressful to maintain excellent oral health.
Sedation dentistry offers patients with general anxiety or fears about a dental procedure the opportunity to have a more comfortable and stress-free experience. By utilizing safe and controlled sedation techniques, the patient is eased into a state of complete relaxation before the procedure. This approach eliminates discomfort, pain, and preoperative anxiety, and typically makes patients feel more at ease post-operatively, as they have little or no memory of the actual moment-to-moment procedure.
Local anesthesia involves an injection directly into or close to the area where a procedure is being performed. While it eliminates any sensation of pain in the targeted area, it does not affect your state of mind or level of anxiety. When a patient receives sedation, additional medications to ease anxiety and promote relaxation are employed in advance of local anesthesia. In this way, both the stress and discomfort associated with a procedure are eliminated. Sedation can be administered in a variety of forms based upon patient needs and the recommendations of the dentist or dental anesthesiologist.
Choosing the most appropriate method of sedation for a procedure depends on a variety of factors such as a patient's medical history and their level of anxiety. Dental sedation can come in the form of nitrous oxide sedation, oral conscious sedation, and IV sedation. Certain patients receiving comprehensive treatment or undergoing a complex surgical procedure may require general anesthesia in a hospital setting.
Nitrous oxide, or "laughing gas," is a mild sedative, which is inhaled through a small mask over the nose. A standard in dental sedation for decades, the effects of nitrous oxide are almost immediate and wear off quickly once your procedure is completed.
Oral sedation involves the prescription of an oral medication prior to your appointment. Taken at the recommended time before your visit, oral sedation allows you to feel fully relaxed by the time you're ready for your procedure. With oral sedation, it's necessary to plan on having an escort to and from your dentist's office.
IV Sedation is administered intravenously, or directly into a vein. It is typically indicated when a deeper state of sedation is required. Your dentist will provide you with specific instructions before your visit, and require that you have an escort for the trip home from your appointment.
At Delgado Dental Group, we provide skilled and compassionate care to help patients of all ages enjoy healthy, beautiful smiles.
