If you have experienced dental anxiety or phobia, you are not alone. Even more importantly, your dentist in Walden can ensure that your common and understandable fear and anxiety do not interfere with your receipt of essential routine or emergency dental treatment.
Patients who have an acute gag reflex, emotional or mental difficulties, an inability to remain physically still, or who have other special needs can also benefit from sedation dentistry in one of several formats. Your dentist can customize a wide range of sedation options — nitrous oxide (laughing gas), oral sedation, intravenous (IV) sedation and even general anesthesia — to your particular circumstances and the treatment that you’re scheduled to undergo.
One of the most common forms of sedation dentistry is oral sedation. Oral sedation is achieved by taking a sedative drug before your appointment. Dentists use a wide range of prescription sedatives and will choose the right drug and dosage based on your medical history, age, physical condition and needs after carefully assessing you and your concerns well before your procedure.
Oral sedation uses the Benzodiazepine family of drugs that you may recognize by brand names like Valium, Halcion and Xanax. Properly administered, the drugs used for sedation dentistry in Legacy affect that area of your brain that controls fear and anxiety. The end result is a state of relaxation and calm to help you to receive the treatment you need comfortably.
There are advantages and disadvantages to every form of sedation, including oral sedation. Be sure to discuss them carefully with a dentist near you who knows you and your needs well.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Obtaining all the benefits of oral sedation is incredibly accessible, and as easy as swallowing a pill approximately one hour before your treatment is scheduled to begin. | Oral sedation does not take effect as quickly as intravenous (IV) sedation or nitrous oxide (also known as laughing gas). For this reason, a dentist in Walden will prescribe you the sedative drugs in advance to take approximately an hour before treatment is to commence. |
| For many people, oral sedation is a necessary tool to help overcome anxiety and fear. For those same people, the need to wear a mask or receive a needle to become relaxed or sedated is another barrier to relief. Oral sedation does not require a mask or a needle. | Because oral sedation does not take effect as quickly as other options for sedation dentistry in Walden, it’s not possible to quickly adjust the dosage of the sedative. When combined with the fact that everyone’s body processes sedative drugs at slightly different rates, it can be difficult to know precisely how long it will take before the sedation effect is produced. For this reason, it’s important to choose an experienced dentist when investigating sedation dentistry near you. |
| Patients will have little or no memory of having received treatment while under oral sedation. This amnesia effect helps to ensure you get the treatment you need and helps to break the cycle of negative experiences that reinforce any existing dental anxiety or phobia. | You will not be able to drive to your own dental appointment after having taken the sedative drugs prior to treatment. You will not be able to drive yourself home after your appointment. This drawback is easily overcome by arranging transportation to and from your appointment in advance, but it is an important issue to consider before well ahead of your scheduled procedure. |
| When administered by experienced, professional and conscious staff employed by a dentist in Legacy, the drugs used in oral sedation are completely safe. | |
| While oral sedation helps you to become completely relaxed, you’ll remain conscious and able to respond to questions and directions from your dentist throughout your procedure. |