A looming fear of needles has created a credible need for sedation dentistry. According to national statistics, more than 10 percent of the population has “needle phobia” to the extent that they avoid medical care. Thirty percent of the population avoids dental care because of fear. Many develop the phobia because of a previous traumatic condition, but some needle phobics have a real fear the medical condition that the needle represents rather than an actual fear of the needle itself.
Sedation dentists know all about these kinds of fears. They specialize in creating an anxiety-free experience for their patients in order for the patients to receive relaxed dental care. Without good application of sedation in dentistry, many more people would put their own dental health and good smiles at risk. Dentists use sedative drugs that can be administered in a number of ways. In some moderate to extreme cases, IV sedation dentistry is necessary in order to subdue the level of anxiety in the patient.
Primarily, dentists and other trained professionals make sure these sedatives get into the blood stream by injecting the patient with needles. For those who have a fear of needles, alternative methods like laughing gas have been effective. Oral sedation dentistry techniques make some patients so relaxed that they do not remember their dental experiences at all.
If you are the patient, it is very easy to lose track of time while you are in the dental chair. It might seem as if you have just arrived and spent only a few minutes with your dentist. Properly sedated, you do not realize that hours could have passed while you were receiving treatment. You are awake during the procedure and feel no pain as the dentist completes the work on your mouth. Such is the magic of conscious sedation dentistry.
Sedative dentistry was designed to help those who have a fear of dentists overcome the fear long enough to get the dental work they need. It is the safest, most effective way to treat patients who have endured trauma or have deep reservations about needles or dental work. Patients can experience minimal, moderate or deep sedation. Any of these methods work by suppressing the central nervous system. While these types of procedures administered as dental approaches are not considered the same as administering a local anesthetic, they have the same goal: reduction of anxiety. It makes the job of sedation dentists a lot easier.
As an anxiety therapy, sedation dentistry offers a chance for the 30 percent of U.S. adults who avoid dental work to finally do something about their oral health. They can shift the focus from fear of needles to fear of bad dental hygiene.