Statistics show that a fair portion of the population has a severe phobia of going to the dentist. People typically are afraid of the pain they imagine they will experience while in the chair. They also are afraid of the sound and sensations of the dental tools used to clean and treat their teeth.

Because of these phobias, many people often avoid going to the dentist altogether. They would rather suffer from poor dental health than make an appointment with a local dental provider. You can get the dental care you need and overcome your fear of the dentist by undergoing professional Sedation Dentistry.

More about Sedation and Dental Care

Sedation Dentistry, as its name implies, is dental care that involves the use of sedation or sedative medications. Depending on your dentist, the work you need to have done in your mouth, and your level of fear, you may receive the sedatives to take several hours before your dental appointment. When you take the medications an hour or two before your scheduled dental appointment, you will be calm enough to sit down in the chair and tolerate the dental work that needs to be done on your mouth.

You also may receive sedation after you arrive and are called back for your treatment. Your dentist may give you a pill to take. You also may be given nitrous oxide, IV sedation, or general anesthesia that will make you go to sleep before the treatment begins.

Regardless of the sedation that you and your dentist feel are best for you, you can look forward to getting treatments to improve your dental health and prevent further damage to your teeth. You also may only remember some of the procedures being performed. If you are asleep during the treatment, you will not remember any of it.

Sedation Dental Candidates

Sedation Dentistry is safe for many people to undergo without fear of complications. However, to ensure your candidacy for it, your dentist or primary care provider will perform an examination before your first appointment. This examination ensures that you do not suffer from any condition that could cause you to suffer complications or perhaps even die during the treatment.

You may not be approved for this level of dental care if you have high blood pressure or heart disease. Likewise, you will not be allowed to undergo sedation if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. Most dentists further require patients to be at least 13 or 14 years old before being sedated for dental work. This type of sedation may be too risky for children.

If you are allergic to sedative medications or have had reactions to them in the past, you will not be approved for this type of dental care. Otherwise, if you can tolerate the medicines and understand what they are for and what effects they will have on you, you can undergo sedation before you submit to any type of dental treatments like extractions, root canals, dentures, and caps and crowns.