Once you’ve experienced sedation dentistry, you’ll probably never be afraid to go to the dentist again. You’ll be sedated just enough to be unaware of the treatment. You’ll wake up refreshed, with little or no memory of the procedures. At least 50% of the population in the U.S. don’t go to the dentist except for dental emergencies…a broken tooth or a tooth ache. And, there are countless people who do have those dental emergencies and still don’t go to the dentist because of the idea of possible pain, shots or even the drilling noise. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could eliminate most or all of those perceptions? Well, the good news is that now we can with sedation dentistry.

Who is a candidate for sedation dentistry?

• Adults who have high fear

• Those who have had traumatic dental experiences and are afraid of having bad dental experiences again

• People who have difficulty getting numb

• People with very sensitive teeth

• People who are very busy, and need a lot of dentistry, but because of their busy lifestyle want their dentistry to be completed comfortably in one or two appointments

• Sedation dentistry is also good for adults who hate needles and shots

• Hate the noises, smells and tastes associated with dental care

• And people who are afraid & embarrassed about their teeth and want their teeth to look nice…want a nice smile that looks professional and enhances their image

Then we will bring you back to our dental treatment room. You will take off your shoes and we will cover you with one or two warm blankets. If you wear glasses, a watch or jewelry those will then be given to the person who drive you to hold. We will then begin to monitor your vital signs - pulse, blood pressure and breathing efficiency with our pulse oximeter, an instrument that measures these things to make sure you don’t go into a deep sleep. In our office we only want you in a safe, light sedation or light sleeping state.

Then we will numb you with a topical anesthetic on a q-tip so that when we do numb you even more, you won’t know it's happening. After that, you’ll dose off a bit and we’ll do the dentistry that you have scheduled. Some people can have all their dentistry done in only one appointment. But if you’re having crowns or bridges you will need two visits. You can see that for busy people, getting all their dentistry done in two long appointments with sedation dentistry really beats 6-10 visits over months or even possibly years to have all their dentistry completed. 

When you’re ready to wake up, we’ll call your name, you’ll wake up and we’ll give you some juice, we will sit you up and you’ll wake up even more. Most people wake up pretty easily because remember, we use a light sedation medication, not a deep sedation or general anesthetic. You might wonder, “what if I go into a deep sleep and I don’t wake up when you talk to me?” Waking you up won’t be a problem, but if we really had to we have another medication that we can give you that will wake you up almost immediately.