The Use of Sedation in Sleep Dentistry: Types and Considerations
Sleep dentistry in Hamilton, ON is an essential part of dental sedation and a crucial aspect of dental care. Sleep dentistry involves the use of sedation when treating various dental problems. The primary reason to provide sedation is to ensure you are entirely relaxed during your dental treatment.
While you might prefer the idea of sleep dentistry, you may have some questions that need to be answered before you decide to use it. This article provides information on sedation and sleep dentistry to make you differentiate between the two.
Sleep Dentistry Explained
Sleep dentistry is when your dentist administers sedatives before performing any dental procedure. Generally, sedatives are administered to relax you. However, the medications can make you drowsy and asleep during dental treatment.
How Is Sedation Used in Sleep Dentistry?
Sleep dentistry exists in many forms depending on the treatment you need and your specific requirements. Some elements that influence sleep dentistry levels include the duration of your dental treatment, your dental anxiety level, preferences and medical history. Familiar types of sleep dentistry include nitrous oxide, also called laughing gas, oral conscious sedation, and IV sedation.
Nitrous Oxide
Alternatively called laughing gas, the administration of nitrous oxide happens via a mask over your nose. The relaxing effects of nitrous oxide affect you within three minutes. The sedation dentist controls the sedation dosage according to the procedure you need. After completing your treatment, the dentist provides pure oxygen to flush the nitrous oxide system. Nitrous oxide disappears within minutes from your system, enabling you to drive back home or to work.
Oral Conscious Sedation
If you are receiving oral conscious sedation, the dentist prescribes pills to have an hour before your appointment. The drugs the dentist prescribe you include tranquillizers, antianxiety medications, depressants, et cetera if you need dental treatment. However, if your child needs a procedure, the dentist prescribes syrups to have an hour before their appointment. The pills or syrup make the patient dizzy and could even make you sleep. However, sedation dentistry ensures the dentist can quickly awaken you with a gentle nudge. Oral conscious sedation is more potent than nitrous oxide. It requires you to arrange transportation to and from your dental appointment because the medications make you incapable of operating vehicles.
Receiving oral conscious sedation doesn’t confirm that you don’t need local anesthesia in the mouth to block pain impulses in the mouth. However, you remain oblivious to the local anesthesia injected because the dentist injects the medications after you are entirely relaxed.
IV Sedation
In sleep dentistry, IV sedation is considered the deepest. With IV sedation, the dentist administers sedatives directly into your arm’s vein and your bloodstream. During the treatment, monitoring your heart rate and blood pressure with oxygen levels continues. The dentist can adjust your dosage levels during treatment and even provide reversal drugs to wake you up. Most patients receiving IV sedation tend to sleep without much recollection of their treatment later. IV sedation is excellent for patients with severe dental anxiety and needing extensive dental procedures.
General Anesthesia Sleep Dentistry
General anesthesia is occasionally used as a modality of sleep dentistry and reserved exclusively for patients with special needs unmanageable by pharmacological techniques and alternative sedation methods. In addition, general anesthesia is frequently used on intellectually challenged patients in very young children needing complicated medical treatments.
The Safety of Sleep Dentistry
Sleep dentistry safety remains undisputed when administered by experienced and licensed dentists providing sleep dentistry in Hamilton, ON. The dentist will monitor you during your treatment by adjusting the sedation doses accordingly. If you receive IV medications, the dentist can also use reversal drugs when they need to awaken you. However, some short-term risks are involved with IV sedation causing nausea, headaches, and bruising from the needles delivering the medications. However, rarely do people experience allergic reactions or endure short-term risks when administered oral conscious sedation to keep you relaxed during your dental treatment.
Benefits of Sleep Dentistry under General Anesthesia
All forms of dental sedation ensure you cooperate with the dentist to enable them to perform more work faster than is possible in a single appointment because you collaborate with the dentist. However, if you receive general anesthesia, the dentist does not require your corporation because it renders you unconscious. In addition, it also exacerbates dental phobia because you wake up with no recollection of your procedure.
General anesthesia requires administration in a hospital setting, with an anesthesiologist monitoring you constantly during your treatment. Therefore in most cases, dentists only suggest sleep dentistry if it is unavoidable. However, if you fear dental treatments, the dentist can provide you with more potent sedation to put you in a deep sleep during your procedure, making you think you spent a few minutes in the dentist’s chair even after spending a couple of hours.
If you are concerned about dental procedures because of phobia, Jackson Square Dental Center provides sedation to ensure they ease your dental fear and receive essential treatments. Consult them today to discuss your situation and receive the treatments you need to complement your oral health and smile.