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Not everyone enjoys a trip to the dentist, and for some, the mere prospect of a dental visit is enough to bring about a cold sweat. However, visits to the dentist needn’t be fraught with trauma, and modern dental techniques make today’s dental treatments a much easier and less traumatic experience.

For those dental patients who routinely suffer from dental anxiety, even for simple treatments, sedation dentistry can take the stress out of visits to the dentist and a sedation dentist can now perform most routine dental treatments without the need for the patient to undergo anesthesia. 

With sedation dentistry, the patient can receive a range of preparatory treatments in order to feel more relaxed ahead of their full treatment. These preparations may take the form of inhalations, whereby the patient inhales a substance designed to relax, such as nitrous oxide (laughing gas).

Other relaxants include anti-anxiety pills to be taken a short time prior to the patient’s appointment, and are often used with further medications in order to bring the patient to the fully relaxed state.

Intravenous sedation is an alternative treatment administered by a sedation dentist in order to relax their patient. Intravenous sedation, as the name suggest, involves the use of an anxiety-reducing medication that is delivered intravenously into the patient. Intravenous sedation is a particularly safe and proven method, and useful for patients who experience a high level of dental anxiety.

In all cases of sedation dentistry, the patient is conscious throughout the treatment; unlike sleep dentistry, which involves the use of sleep-inducing anaesthesia. This has a huge benefit over sleep dentistry, as although relaxed, the patient can still communicate fully with the dentist through the full range of verbal and physical responses.

Sedation dentistry also allows for patients to remember little of the dental procedure, despite being lucid throughout, once the sedation medication wears off. This helps minimize the potential of experiencing flashbacks to the treatment – the sedation helps reduce stress levels both for the patient and the dentist alike.

And so, with sedation dentistry, patients who experience dental anxiety needn’t fear a visit to the dentist any longer. For additional information, contact Art of Dentistry, serving Highland Park and the surrounding areas.