Rest Easy With Oral Conscious Sedation
We know that dental visits can be frightening for some individuals. It’s called dental phobia, and it’s something millions of Americans experience. We use sedation dentistry to help our patients feel anxiety-free and relaxed during their treatment at our practice. If you suffer from dental phobia, Dr. Pate may recommend sedation dentistry in the form of oral conscious sedation after reviewing your medical history.
What Is Sedation Dentistry?
Sedation dentistry is a process where the dentist uses medication or drugs to relax the patient before or during a lengthy dental procedure. Each state has a set of laws, rules, and guidelines for dentists to comply with when providing sedation dentistry drugs and anesthesia to a person. The dentist must have sufficient qualifications and extensive sedation dentistry experience to carry out such procedures.
Where Does Dental Anxiety Come From?
Even though we’re dental professionals ourselves, we can understand why the idea of regular dental appointments (let alone more intense treatments) can be unpleasant for a lot of people. It’s not very fun to lie flat on your back while strangers poke around at your teeth and gums, and maybe it’s easier to hope there are no cavities instead of letting a dentist check and risk getting bad news. A lot of people feel this way, but for the sake of having healthy smiles, it’s important not to succumb to it.
Other people might have a specific bad memory that they associate the dentist with. Maybe they had a negative experience that gave them a terrible impression of dentists in general, or maybe older family members told them about their bad experiences and passed on their dental anxiety that way. At our practice, patient comfort is one of our highest priorities, and we would love to help any patients overcome anxiety based on previous experiences.
Strategies for Fighting Dental Anxiety
Here are a few things we recommend trying to help with feelings of dental anxiety:
- Don’t wait until a scheduled appointment to visit the dental office. Come in ahead of time to meet the team and get familiar with the space. Maybe even bring a friend or family member along so you can feel as in control as possible.
- Learn about what goes into a typical dental appointment. Ask questions and get an idea of how the process will go so that you won’t have to worry about any surprises.
- Discuss your anxiety and what you think the cause might be with the dentist. When dentists are aware of a patient’s dental anxiety struggles, they are much better able to help.
- Bring a relaxing distraction like your favorite music or podcast to listen to during the appointment.
- Remember that modern dentistry is full of conveniences and comforts that didn’t exist for our parents and grandparents! We get a pretty great deal in the 21st century. This is where oral conscious sedation can help.
Oral Conscious Sedation
As the name suggests, oral sedation does not require the use of needles but a sedative taken in pill form. Depending on the dosage, it can induce low or moderate sedation. With moderate sedation, you won’t remember much of the procedure even though you’re conscious.
There are a variety of different medications that we provide here at Hope Dental Professionals. It will be up to your medical history and the recommendation of Dr. Pate to decide which one will be your best choice.
In some cases, patients become hazy to the point where they fall asleep. Most dentists that practice sedation ask that the patient take the pill an hour before the procedure. Both nitrous oxide and oral sedation are good options for those that have a fear of needles. Oral sedation requires that you have a ride home from your appointment.
Oral Conscious Sedation in Bentonville, AR
No matter what your dental care experience has been in the past, we are confident that your experience here at Hope Dental Professionals in Bentonville will be a comfortable and anxiety-free one. If you suffer from dental anxiety, please call us at (479) 254-8111 or email us. We’re confident we have a solution to relieve you of dental anxiety and help your experience here at Hope Dental Professionals be pleasant.