How to Chose a Sedation Dentist

If you are a patient who must experience sedation dentistry, how do you ever know when you have the right sedation dentists working on your mouth? Going through the usual procedure, where a dentist simply numbs your gums with Novocain, might not qualify as experience for a more complex procedure.

There are some serious questions you can ask your dentist, however, that should help settle any questions of competence or professionalism and allay your fears about your procedure.

  • Ask what percentage of patients has dental problems like yours. If your dentist says a small percentage, you might opt for another professional to handle your procedure. You can always continue to see your dentist for routine visits and cleanings, so the relationship does not have to end if you really like him.
  • Ask if the dentist is affiliated with any local hospitals. While it might seem a bit out of the ordinary to ask such a question, it might tell you if the dentist is qualified to perform a procedure like IV sedation dentistry, in which medication is injected directly into the bloodstream through the veins. Do not feel embarrassed to ask this. No professional will be offended. Oral sedation dentistry can offer just as many risks as sedation for other kinds of surgery and should be taken just as seriously.
  • Ask what kinds of sedation methods are available to you. If your dentist does the same sedation for every single patient, it is time to look elsewhere for help. Conscious sedation dentistry should be offered with options. Each patient is a different person with a different need. Your dentist should be able to address any of those needs. While he might need to be a one-stop-shop in order to keep you as a patient, he should not be a one-size-fits-all dentist. If so, he does not believe in individualization.
  • See if the dentist can make a proper recommendation if you were not to use his services. Does he have partnerships with other dentists in your city, or is he knowledgeable enough about his colleagues to make a proper referral? If not, you might consider changing dentists. Sedation dentists might be slightly competitive with one another in order to stay in business. Those who are in it for the right reasons, however, realize that there is an inherent comradely among professionals that promotes sedative dentistry and puts the patient first. The future of sedation in dentistry will always depend on how well all the players embrace this concept.

Sedation dentistry is a specialized enough field that dentists must also consider that they have patients with special needs. Those with real (or imagined) anxieties present a different set of challenges. Root canals, full mouth reconstruction and gum disease are just three of the many reasons to seek a dentist who can competently perform this kind of work. The first task, however, is up to the patient: find the right dentist.

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Sedation Dentistry – Why So Popular?

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.

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