Types of Sedation

[pam01]

Hi

I am a very phobic patient who has not seen a dentist in ages. I would like to have my teeth looked at and put right and I think I can only face the dentist with some sort of heavy sedation.

Could you explain what types of sedation are used at the dentist and which type of sedation is most likely to put me to sleep so that I don't remember anything about the whole procedure.

[Dr Vahid Motahar]

Hi,

Thank you for your question.

There are many types of sedation but the main streams are, inhalation sedation (with nitrus oxide gas), oral sedation (where tablets such as valium are taken by patients before treatment) and intravenous sedation.

The latter involves administration of a sedative agent, like medazolam, into the circulation directly by means of a canula (also known as I.V. sedation). This type of sedation tends to be most effective and more importantly more predictable outcome of sedation.

There are many dentist and practioners that induce I.V sedation by means of Medazolm alone (the most widely used drug to cause sedation0, but more effective form of if it is when a combination of the drugs are used beside just Medazolam. The combination drug I.V. sedation should not be done by practicing dentist and it should only be done by experienced health professionals such as theatre anaesthetist.

I am very pleased to tell you that at Pearl Dental Clinic we only use an experienced specialist anaesthetist that induces I.V sedation by means of combination of drugs that are very effective and our patients find their experience very satisfactory.