What If You Could Sleep through Your Entire Dental Treatment and Experience No Pain?

It might sound like a dream, but it can become a reality with sedation dentistry. Sedation dentistry uses sedatives to help reduce pain and dental anxiety, and fears.

Dental Fears and Phobias Are a Common Problem

We know that many patients suffer from dental anxiety and dental phobias, sometimes to such an extent that they avoid seeing a dentist. People with these feelings will often only see a dentist when in so much pain or discomfort that they can no longer stand it. We feel for people in this position and always go out of our way to ensure nervous patients can relax in the dental chair.

If you do have these feelings, please let us know when you book your appointment so we can take the time to get to know you, understand your fears and phobias and decide with you how best to move forward. With the proper approach, we can ensure you receive the dental treatment you need more comfortably and without any pain! Often, we will suggest using sedation dentistry.

How Sedation Dentistry Can Help

Sedation dentistry helps anxious or nervous patients feel calmer and more relaxed during treatment. The level of sedation can be customised to suit your needs. For example, someone who only feels mildly anxious might only need Nitrous oxide, better known as happy gas. Someone with deep-seated dental fears and anxieties may benefit from intravenous sedation, where they feel so deeply relaxed and sleepy that they may fall asleep during treatment.

With sedation dentistry, if you wish, you can sleep comfortably throughout your procedure, eliminating the need to see, smell or hear anything that could trigger dental fear or anxiety. Dental sedatives can contain an amnesiac, so you will probably remember nothing or very little about the procedure once the sedative wears off. Sedation dentistry is also useful for children and adults with more complex needs and anyone with a strong gag reflex.

Different Types of Sedation

There are three main types of sedation that we may suggest.

Happy Gas (Nitrous Oxide)

You inhale the gas through a small mask placed over your nose, and it takes effect within a few seconds, putting you into a relaxed and happy or almost euphoric state. You will still be conscious and able to respond to us. Once the mask is removed, the effects quickly wear off, so you can even drive home.

Oral Sedation

Oral sedation is given in pill form a short while before your appointment, so it takes full effect before you sit in the dental chair. You will feel deeply relaxed and more comfortable, but you cannot drive afterwards.

Intravenous Sedation

The sedative is given intravenously through a vein in your hand or forearm, allowing you to feel extremely relaxed, drowsy, and almost in a dreamlike state. It will seem as if only a few minutes have passed when you come around, but this treatment can allow us to comfortably complete an extensive amount of dental work. Afterwards, you will need someone to take you home.