When you are afraid, your threshold for pain is much lower. You become hypersensitive to every sensation, prick, and noise. Fear and dental anxiety trigger the release of certain chemicals in your brain which put your “fight or flight” instincts on high alert. You anticipate that something is going to hurt and so you tense your muscles, even if it is subconsciously. Patients who have a fear of the dentist often experience more pain during and after their procedure. However that can virtually be eliminated with oral sedation dentistry! The whole purpose of an anxiety free dentistry or an oral sedation dentistry is to make you as comfortable and relaxed as possible to make a pain free dentistry appointment. It allows you to let your guard down, relax both your mind and body, and focus on feeling peaceful rather than anxious. Your apprehension and hypersensitivity to pain melts away.
HOW 'DEEP' WILL I GO? ARE THERE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF SEDATION?
There are different levels of sedation, even with oral medications. With anxiolysis, the lightest level of sedation, you usually take a single dose on the day of your appointment. To attain a longer and more comfortable experience you may opt for oral conscious sedation dentistry where unique protocols will be chosen for your unique needs and medical history.
HOURS WILL SEEM LIKE MINUTES
Once you are completely relaxed and comfortable, your sedation dentist will be able to work quickly and efficiently to perform larger amounts of dentistry in fewer visits. And since sedation medications have an amnesic effect, you'll have very little, if any, memory of the sights, smells or sounds of your visit - making your visit feel short and sweet.
RECOVERY IS A DREAM
When your treatment is complete you may be a bit wobbly while the medications work their way out of your system but you will be able to walk. You will need your companion to take you home and stay with you until you're fully recovered. Your sedation dentist will give you simple instructions on when and how much you should eat or drink and other important information.
You'll be amazed at how much can be accomplished in such a seemingly short period of time, while you were totally relaxed, and completely comfortable. And best of all, the very next day you will feel fantastic.
IS THIS DIFFERENT THAN TAKING VALIUM® BEFORE MY APPOINTMENT?
If you have taken Valium® in the past for dental treatment, than you are already aware of some of the potential benefits of oral sedation. However, there is more to sedation dentistry then just Valium®. Countless years of research have been dedicated to studying and finding methods and new medications to alleviate pain and anxiety since Valium’s® arrival on the market in 1960’s. Additionally, there are many other components of sedation dentistry that are important that make a visit to the dentist safer and more comfortable including monitoring, benzodiazepine reversal agents, patient health history intakes, and drug-drug interaction/contraindication screening. Providing optimum sedation through DOCS’safe and predictable sedation protocols enables sedation dentists to provide higher quality care to their patients.
