What Is Sedation Dentistry?

By R.S. Mayberry, DDS

Mayberry Dental

. https://www.mayberrydental.com/

More Dental Health Articles

What Is Sedation Dentistry?

Sometimes when having a dental procedure performed, it is necessary for you as the patient to be sedated or semiconscious.

This could be for several reasons, such as the length or the complexity of the procedure, or even the comfort of the patient. And while there are several methods of sedation, the one I find most comfortable and effective for my patients is intravenous sedation.

IV sedation is a very effective and safe technique used to treat patients and is the most common technique we use at our office. In this technique, a small tube is inserted into a vein, which is used to administer drugs directly into the blood. This technique is very effective and places the patient into an immediate state of sedation.

Drugs are administered through the IV line depending upon the individual requirements of the patient. This is called “titration to desired effect”, or rather administration of the proper dose of sedative drugs based upon the observed effect and individual patient requirements.

Unlike general anesthesia, the patient breathes normally without any breathing tube being inserted into their windpipe. This IV technique allows for the immediate use of reversal type drugs to be administered to arouse the patient should it be desired.

During sedation the patient is semi-conscious and in a state of pleasant euphoria, but afterwards does not remember anything that happened during the procedure. Unlike general anesthesia, patients rarely have any nausea and recover almost immediately afterwards.

Sedative drugs in pill form can be used for oral sedation techniques and can be effective although less predictable than IV sedation. Pills taken have to be absorbed into the blood stream through the stomach or digestive tract, which can be unpredictable. Depending on what the stomach contents contain will determine how effectively the drugs will work and how long it will take before the desired effect.

Although potentially effective, this technique is less desirable than IV sedation due to the variation of predictable sedation effect, since no direct connection to the blood supply is available.

Without an IV connection to the blood the option to immediately administer sedation reversal drugs is not available. This technique is available to any dentist with appropriate training and authorized to prescribe sedative drugs.

Alongside these techniques, local anesthetics are typically used to block pain not controlled by the sedation technique.

Talk to your dentist about how these can work together, and what sedation option would be right for you.