subject: Knowledge About Dental Anesthesia [print this page] Millions of individuals experience severe anxiety in the time leading up to and during a dental appointment. From a psychological perspective, this is unsurprising.
Traditional dental techniques cause a great deal of pain and uncertainty. We are placed in an unfamiliar environment and made to submit to procedures that are often disconcertingly loud, very painful, and sometimes nauseating.
Our brains naturally associate the dentist's office with these sensations, and that association is strengthened with each visit. Some people have managed their dental anxiety by asking their dentists for a sedative to take before each appointment.
While sedative medications can be highly effective in the short-term management of dental anxiety, they do not eliminate all of the discomfort that you may experience during a visit to the dentist's office. Furthermore, they create reliance upon an external means of anxiety reduction.
This fosters a feeling of helplessness that can actually increase the overall experience of dread that surrounds the dental experience. Still, if you go to the dentist infrequently, anxiolytic medications are a viable option.
Psychological treatments have also been effective in reducing dental anxiety. Cognitive-behavioral skills training can help you to reduce the anxiety leading up to a dental appointment. It can also help to increase pain tolerance and decrease symptoms of panic during your actual examination and treatment.
However, because this type of treatment generally takes multiple sessions over a period of weeks or months, it is a fairly large commitment for any but the most severe dental anxiety. Also, it may become necessary to go in for "tune up" sessions with your psychotherapist later on as your anxiety begins to return.
A final way to reduce dental anxiety is to simply reduce the cause of the anxiety. No, I'm not suggesting that you stop seeing the dentist.
New types of dental treatments can nearly eliminate the pain and discomfort which bring about dental anxiety. These new techniques use laser technology to detect tiny cavities before they become visible or painful.
The lasers can also be used to eliminate the bacteria and damaged tissue without the heat, noise, or pain of traditional drilling. The fillings required for laser-drilled cavities are much smaller than they would be if created using traditional methods.
Below will be discussed the differences in anesthetics. You can decide which one is more appealing to you and talk to your doctor about it.
Local anesthetic medication is also called Novocaine. If you choose the local anesthetic option, your surgeon will use this method to control pain.
Thus, the gum area where the wisdom tooth will be removed is numbed. Your surgeon can deliver the pain control medication two ways, either by injecting the liquid in the gum or rubbing it directly on the surgical area and the surrounding tissues.
The local anesthesia option will not make you sleepy. So, an individual will be awake to see the wisdom tooth extraction.
There will be no pain. However, you may feel pressure as the surgeon makes the extraction. In addition, your surgeon will not require any dietary restrictions.
With this option, your surgeon will instruct you not to eat or drink starting the night before the surgery. If you have any anxiety about the surgery or are having more than one wisdom tooth removed, then you may choose the general anesthetic.
This method can be inhaled or injected. Once injected, you will be completely unaware of what happens during the extraction.
If you choose the general anesthetic medication, a nurse anesthetist or anesthesiologist will administer the medication and monitor your vitals throughout the surgery. In addition to not consuming any drinks or food, there are three other requirements.
You will have to wear comfortable clothing, be escorted by someone who will drive you home and can't wear contact lenses or jewelry. There can be complications from this medication.
For instance, you may experience vomiting, an allergic reaction, nausea and infections after the procedure. You may be more familiar with the third option under a different name: "laughing gas."
Nitrous oxide is a colorless gas with a sweet odor. It works quickly and can be reversed just as quickly.
While the general anesthetic option will interrupt the pain process, the nitrous oxide will decrease the pain perception. Also, it can cause short-term amnesia.
However, there are no driving restrictions and you can eat a light meal at least two hours before the procedure. They are also created in a way that is more gentle and sterile than drilling, and so they are less likely to require root canals in the future.
Although laser dentistry is currently somewhat more expensive that traditional treatment, it can be expected to become much more affordable in coming years and to eventually replace traditional methods entirely.
