Sedation Options for Nervous Patients: Happy Gas and Twilight IV Explained
Is it time to visit your local Newtown dentist, but you’re dreading the appointment? With Blue Tooth Dental, there is no need to fear. Advanced sedation options mean easy and pain-free treatment, no matter how complex.
Let’s take a closer look at what sedation options you can expect when you visit the best local dentistry clinic.
When Might Patients Need Sedation?
Most dentists in Newtown are a bit cautious about sedation, especially when the procedure isn’t too extreme or time-consuming. There are, however, many cases when sedation can be a much better option. Here are the top scenarios that might call for sedation.
Younger Children
Younger kids – usually under the age of eight – are often sedated because it is easier and safer for dentists to work with little ones. This is mostly because they cannot hold still for long enough, and dentists just don’t want a small child to experience trauma that could affect future dentist visits.
Anxiety and Dental Phobias
Adults can also request sedation when they are prone to stress and anxiety, have a fear of needles, or in case of trauma that might have been caused by a bad experience.
Physical Challenges or Sensitivities
Your dentist might also recommend sedation if you have a strong gag reflex, if you cannot tolerate pain, or if you have very sensitive teeth.
Complex Procedures
Sedation is also the route to go when handling complex procedures that might take a while or that might entail surgery. A good example is wisdom teeth removal.
Three Main Sedation Options
Dental clinics in Newtown will discuss one of three sedation options with you as they plan out your dental treatments.
Happy Gas
“Happy Gas” is the friendly term for nitrous oxide. This form of sedation requires patients to inhale N₂O. This mild sedative won’t make you fall asleep but can make you feel very relaxed, a bit dissociated, and perhaps a bit euphoric. Some might even hallucinate a little bit.
Happy Gas is a very common sedative because it relaxes patients so they will no longer feel anxious about their treatments.
Twilight IV Sedation
Twilight IV sedation is considered the middle ground between a local anaesthetic and a general anaesthetic. This form of sedation is administered via IV and enters the body through a vein. The sedative can make patients feel extremely relaxed or perhaps even drowsy. You are likely to be awake, yet will be extremely calm. You will still be a little bit responsive and might retain some memory of the procedure.
Patients do wake and recover much quicker from this form of sedation compared to general anaesthesia.
Oral Conscious Sedation
Some Newtown dentists do recommend oral sedation. This type of sedation is in pill form and is taken before a dental procedure. The medication is designed to calm you, make you a bit drowsy, and remove anxious feelings. You might still respond to commands but might not remember a lot about the procedure. Oral sedation is the most affordable of the three sedation methods. Even though you do recover quickly, you will still need someone to drive you home after a procedure since many do feel extremely sleepy while the sedation wears off.
Sedation vs Anaesthesia
Patients need to understand that there is quite a difference between sedation treatments and anaesthesia. Sedatives are designed to relax and calm your mind and can cause sleepiness. Local anaesthesia, on the other hand, hinders your ability to feel anything in a certain area, whereas general anaesthesia knocks the patient out completely. Local anaesthesia is paired with all of the sedation methods we discussed here since sedation doesn’t eliminate pain.
Visit Blue Tooth Dental for Painless Dentistry
For a comfortable, pain-free, and anxiety-free dental procedure, we invite you to book your treatments with Blue Tooth Dental in Newtown. Through sedation and local anaesthesia, our patients don’t feel a thing, even with extreme treatments.
Book now at Blue Tooth Dental and get your teeth restored as painlessly as possible.
