subject: The Different Kinds of Dental Sedation [print this page] The Different Kinds of Dental Sedation The Different Kinds of Dental Sedation
There are people who, from childhood, had developed phobia towards dentists. This feeling is caused by a painful medication experience or an unwanted dental treatment. This fear of dentists causes patients to avoid dental check-ups and develop tooth decay and other dental problems. But, with dental technology in Los Angeles nowadays, dental procedures are not as fearful as they were before.
Dental practitioners in LA are now using different sedation methods to treat patients without pain. Sedation is the administration of sedatives to reduce irritability and agitation. The sedative given to a patient differs according to the extent of phobia manifested. There are four types of sedation that dentists commonly use today.
Oral sedation is an anti-anxiety medication provided by prescribing a pill, like Benzodiazepines, which may be anti-anxiety or sedative hypnotics. This drug targets brain areas which control wakefulness and sleepiness, and areas which control emotions. This pill is given on the night before the dental treatment or an hour before. It does not have a pain relieving effect so the patient will still be given local anesthetics to prevent pain.
Intravenous (IV) Sedation is commonly referred to as twilight sleep or sleep dentistry. A dentist LA has certified administers an anti-anxiety drug directly to the patient's blood system during the process of dental treatment. This sedation method does not also provide painkilling effect; it just relaxes the patient and helps the patient forget what happened in the dental procedure. So, anesthetics are still needed to make the patient numb.
Nitrous oxide sedation is a method done by letting the patient inhale a gas called nitrous oxide. This gas has no color, no smell, and doesn't irritate. Often called "laughing gas," inhalation of this is the most convenient form of dental sedation given by a dentist LA health officials have accredited. Dentists perform this impromptu process of relieving fear and increasing comfort.
In General Anesthesia, a dentist LA based gives anesthetic drugs to patients so that they will become unconscious during the treatment. This drug controls one's breathing with an endotracheal tube. In this method, the patient usually falls into a deep sleep or total unconsciousness of the surroundings during the time that the dental treatment is being done.
