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Monday, June 2, 2014

Sedation Dentistry Puts Anxiety to Sleep

Dentists can be pretty intimidating; the experience of letting a complete stranger look at your wide open mouth and use various devices to do so can be unsettling for some folks. This anxiety is what holds several people back from receiving much-needed dental treatments. Those who can’t overcome their unease yet desire to be treated for their dental problems should opt for sedation dentistry.


In sedation dentistry, prescribed medications or drugs are used to calm patients down, such as anti-anxiety medications, depressants, tranquilizers, and the ever-popular “laughing gas”—nitrous oxide. These drugs are often paired with anesthetics to ensure that patients don’t feel a thing at all. More often than not, patients who choose to rely on sedation dentistry are able to undergo treatments without remembering a thing.

Sedation dentistry, due to its use of sedatives, isn’t for everybody. Age and any other pre-existing health conditions can limit the amount of sedatives a patient can be safely subjected to – and even if he or she is a good candidate for sedation. Thus, patients will have to carefully discuss the matter and its feasibility with their dentists before undergoing the procedure. However, note that sedation dentistry is relatively safe, and is ideal for those who can’t quite get over their fear of dentists.

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