What Is A Sedation Dentist?

A sedation dentist is simply a doctor of dentistry who makes use of the latest sedative techniques in order to afford you the maximum level of comfort during any dental procedures you may require. This actually includes the routine care that so many people have learned to dread. You can enjoy a nicely sedated dental cleaning and checkup under the care of a medical professional by simply requesting some sedative medication while it’s going on.

In many cases this is referred to as “conscious sedation dentistry“, meaning that you remain conscious even though you are in a pleasantly sedated state. This is achieved using benzodiazapene medications and/or nitrous oxide. In many cases this type of treatment is enough to satisfy the patient that they are not in danger, and allow them to enjoy their dental procedures. Even more trying procedures such as dental fillings, requiring multiple topical anesthetic injections, can be made tolerable for most patients through the use of conscious dental sedation.

In other cases, it is necessary to use products which completely alleviate the patient’s consciousness and ability to recall the events that are transpiring. This is very useful during potentially traumatic procedures or in the case of dental phobia.

In most cases the distinction is drawn between oral sedation dentistry and IV sedation dentistry. Oral dental sedation simply involves the use of oral medications, and often is used to include the use of laughing gas. IV dental sedation involved the use of intravenous medications that require more intricate monitoring and generally require the presence of a specialist in dental anesthesiology. When the patient is fully unconscious, this is often referred to as “sleep sedation dentistry.” You can easily see the contrast between these two methods and the different types of patients and circumstances in which each would be required.

Where To Find A Sedation Dentist in…

Sedation Dentist MA

• Smiles by Design
  57 Bedford Street, Lexington, MA‎
  (781) 674-9995‎
• Helaine Smith, DMD, PC‎
  1892 Centre Street, Boston, MA‎
  (617) 327-1350‎
• Cosmetic Dentistry Boston – Dental Associates of New England‎
  Suite 500, 40 2nd Ave, Waltham, MA‎
  (781) 890-4900‎
• Andover Cosmetic Dental Group‎
  305 North Main Street, Andover, MA‎
  (978) 475-9111‎

Sedation Dentist NJ

• NJ Cosmetic Dentistry
  25 Kilmer Dr
  Morganville, NJ 07751
  (732) 972-0918

NC Sedation Dentist

• Sedation Dental Care
  3917 Sunset Ridge Rd
  Raleigh, NC 27607
  (919) 783-9686
• Mann C Ashley DDS
  315 E Chatham St # 100
  Cary, NC 27511
  (919) 462-9338
• Ballantyne Center-Dentistry
  15105 John J Delaney Dr # K
  Charlotte, NC 28277
  (704) 540-2255

We are very excited and encouraged at the recent increase in sedation dentistry options that consumers are now able to enjoy. We believe that this really is the future of dentistry, because dental experiences have been so unpleasant for so many people for so long. Until completely non-invasive and painless laser dental procedures are perfected, sedation dentists will have an outstanding market full of eager consumers who want to promote their dental health without putting themselves through uncomfortable ordeals.

Related posts:

1. Conscious Sedation Dentistry Conscious sedation dentistry is a technique in dental care that attempts to offer some of the benefits of sedation dentistry without such profound alteration of consciousness. It may be difficult...
2. Sedation Dentistry One of the fastest-growing segments of family dentistry is sedation dentistry. This type of dental service is ideal for people who have a high level of dental anxiety or who...
3. Sleep Dentistry Sleep dentistry is an option that has gained broad appeal over the past decade. Procedures, techniques, and medications have improved dramatically over that time, allowing a wider number of people...

The main reason that people seek out sedation dentistry is because they are afraid. Even if you are not a typically fearful person, the dentist’s office can very easily provoke feelings of anxiety, panic, and fight-or-flight responses. And it doesn’t have to have been this way from a very early age. Many people only begin to experience severe dental anxiety as they enter into adulthood. This may have to do with the way the brain consolidates memories during this period.

When you think about it, regular dental visits are a perfect setup for behavioral conditioning of a fear response, because they intermittently produce extremely painful, uncomfortable experiences and make people feel helpless. You lay down with your mouth wide open, you get pricked with needles and dug into with drill. The sounds and the smells become powerful triggers for those feelings of helplessness and discomfort. The more this happens, the more ingrained in your psyche these stimuli become, until, like Pavlov’s dogs, you simply begin to respond to them regardless of whether there is any immediate pain or discomfort. Over the years, this conditioning can really pile up on a person.

Of course, you can get psychotherapy to help you manage dental anxiety, but many people consider this too extreme. After all, you only go to the dentist’s office twice a year if all goes well, and so to have therapy to help you through this, it is likely the effects of the psychological treatment will have worn off by the time your next check-up with the dentist comes around. Therefore the emerging solution to this widespread problem has become pharmacological treatment.

Often patients are given a sedative prior to coming in for their appointment, and for many people this is a highly effective way of dealing with the problem. But sometimes dental anxiety can be too severe or too deeply embedded for this to be enough. For these patients, dental sedation is indicated.

Sedation dentists use full medical sedation in order to make their patients unconscious while their dental work is going on. This is the surest way to avoid the problem of dental anxiety during the time that the work is being done, but it also carries some risks. The medications used are powerful enough to make you lose consciousness and to keep you unconscious for a period of time. That means that if you experience side effects, they may also be fairly powerful. Some people experience a kind of “hangover” effect from the medicines as well.

“Conscious sedation dentistry,” also called “partial sedation dentistry,” or “relaxation dentistry,” is really just ordinary dentistry. These techniques have been used for many years, and they amount largely to what we have already talked about. If you take a benzodiazapene prior to treatment at the dentist, you are undergoing conscious dental sedation. The term applies even more readily to the use of nitrous oxide, or laughing gas. You inhale the gas and enter a partially sedated state in which you are relieved of much anxiety and pain.

Neither one of these approaches is adequate for very severe dental anxiety, but there are new drugs that offer step up from these traditional treatments. One of the most popular is known as Halcion, or triazolam. This medication offers not only some level of sedation, but also brings about amnesia. So you will not be likely to clearly remember exactly what happened at the dentist although you will technically have been conscious for it. The main disadvantage of this approach is that it is somewhat unpredictable how much an individual will be affected by the pill the first few times, so you may not receive adequate sedation, or you may receive too much and be a mess to deal with.

Related posts:

1. Sedation Dentistry One of the fastest-growing segments of family dentistry is sedation dentistry. This type of dental service is ideal for people who have a high level of dental anxiety or who...
2. Find A Sedation Dentist Sedation dentistry, is, for many people, a real dream come true. A substantial proportion of the population experience dental anxiety that is severe enough that it has led to consequences...
3. Sleep Dentistry Sleep dentistry is an option that has gained broad appeal over the past decade. Procedures, techniques, and medications have improved dramatically over that time, allowing a wider number of people...

Sedation Dentistry: Tampa Residents Are Increasingly Drawn In By This Appealing Option

Traditionally, sedation has only been used for long or traumatic dental procedures, such as wisdom tooth extraction or the insertion of dental implants. However, the past twenty years have introduced great improvements in the safety and viability of surgical sedatives and techniques. Consequently, the last decade has seen an explosion of Tampa sedation dentistry practices who offer full sedation not only for complex and difficult dental procedures, but for routine dental procedures like fillings and root canals as well.

Many people find this appealing due to the intense anxiety that can come from years of negative conditioning. Each time you visit the dentist’s office, you experience some degree of discomfort, and sometimes this discomfort can be severe. Each time you experience discomfort in this setting, you retain a psychological impression which builds on all of your previous memories. That is why the dentist’s office becomes worse and worse for many people as the years go by, rather than getting easier for them as they might expect. This is why the sound of the dentist’s drill makes the average adult cringe instinctively, because of the pain and discomfort that it has caused to them in the past.

Tampa sedation dentistry can short-circuit these terrible associations by allowing the patient to remain blissfully unconscious through all of the discomfort of these procedures, thereby rendering them impervious to the immediate pain and discomfort as well as the negative associations and anxiety that have built up over the course of years. Some people refer to this as “sleep dentistry,” because the IV sedation techniques used produce the experience of having slept through your dental procedure. Another option to consider is known as “conscious sedation dentistry.”

Finding A Sedation Dentist Tampa

As we have mentioned, the Tampa Bay Area has been blessed with an increasing number of sedation dentists who are skillful and affordable. We are currently compiling information about these dental practices and gathering up the opinions of patients who have utilized their sedation dentistry services in Tampa, Florida.

Be sure to bookmark this page, because we will be updating it with a large amount of information about specific sedation dentists and dental practices, their specialties, and feedback from their patients. This will be helpful to many Tampa Bay residents who are unsure what criteria they should evaluate a sedation dentist by, and how to know whether a particular office will be a good fit for their personality and medical needs.

If you are someone who has been to a sedation dentists in Tampa, please post in the comments about your experiences so that we can take your direct experience into account when we put together our final report for Tampa Bay residents to use as a guide to Tampa sedation dentists.

Related posts:

1. Conscious Sedation Dentistry Conscious sedation dentistry is a technique in dental care that attempts to offer some of the benefits of sedation dentistry without such profound alteration of consciousness. It may be difficult...
2. Find A Sedation Dentist Sedation dentistry, is, for many people, a real dream come true. A substantial proportion of the population experience dental anxiety that is severe enough that it has led to consequences...
3. Sleep Dentistry Sleep dentistry is an option that has gained broad appeal over the past decade. Procedures, techniques, and medications have improved dramatically over that time, allowing a wider number of people...