A Brief Introduction to Sedation Dentistry Types

If you are hesitant about a dental procedure, one option you have is called sleep dentistry. By tailoring your specific need for sedation and matching it to your procedure, while the visit will probably not be enjoyable, it will be a lot less stressful, particularly while the dentist is doing the procedure.

What Dental Sedation Is

There is no one answer to what general sedation dentistry is exactly. Basically, any process that sedates all or part of you to complete general dentistry services would be considered dental sedation. It wouldn’t necessarily be sleep dentistry, though.

In general practice dentistry, the goal of sedation is to make a patient comfortable during long procedures and that includes several different methods. It’s important to note that dental sedation isn’t part of pain management, which entails shots and numbing agents. For many patients, the prospect of getting a needle in their gum is frightening, but sedation helps calm them, and with some types of sedation, the patient won’t remember receiving it.

If you’re interested in general sedation dentistry in Houston, TX, read on to learn about your various sedation options from the pros at Made Ya Smile.

Laughing Gas

This is perhaps the most well-known of all types of sedation. The patient never loses consciousness and it wears off very quickly. In most cases, a patient that receives just laughing gas will be able to drive themselves home. The gas is administered via a nose apparatus. For some patients, laughing gas is enough sedation, while for others it is administered in addition to oral sedation.

Oral Sedation

This type of sedation is known as conscious sedation, and it involves taking a prescribed dosage before the procedure. The sedative is taken according to your doctor’s orders and can involve taking a dose the night before a procedure. With this type of sedative, you will be awake for the procedure, but, with most patients, the memory of the procedure will be fuzzy or nonexistent.

During this type of sedation, you may have your heart, blood pressure, and breathing monitored. Generally, that monitoring is only used if it is absolutely necessary. While you will feel very sleepy until the sedative wears off, by the next day, you will be back to normal.

IV Sedation

IV sedation comes in a few different forms. The first is known as twilight, where you are conscious but unaware of your surroundings. A second form of IV sedation is called twilight IV, and it will leave you feeling sleepy; you also won’t remember the procedure with this type of sedation. A third option is general anesthesia, which is only used when it’s absolutely necessary. Under general anesthesia, a patient is unconscious, and this is usually only used if the patient is receiving significant oral surgery, resistant to other forms of sedation, or has extreme anxiety at the prospect of having the procedure done. General anesthesia usually happens in a hospital and is managed by an anesthesiologist.