Exploring The Benefits Of Sedation Dentistry

As a dentist in Southend we do our very best to make patients feel relaxed and at ease throughout their visit and this includes offering a welcoming modern environment together with friendly and caring staff. However, despite this there are still plenty of patients who suffer from anxiety about the treatment itself, and for whom we often recommend conscious sedation.

What is conscious sedation?

It’s a simple procedure which uses medication to put the patient into a dreamy, relaxed state whilst their treatment is being carried out. It can be administered through a vein in the hand or the patient can breath in a mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen via a small mask. The patient remains conscious throughout and able to co-operate with the dentist, but free from any pain and not at all worried about what is happening.

What are the benefits?

Conscious sedation benefits the patient and the dentist in many ways.

• It alleviates a person’s feeling of anxiety and stress both pre-visit and during treatment and also allows the dentist to complete a course of treatment with fewer visits.

• Many kinds of dental treatments can be used with sedation dentistry including dental implants. In Southend, here at Southend Dental Care we recommend conscious sedation especially for those patients undergoing more complex dental implant treatments. Used with a local anaesthetic a patient remembers little of what went on and feels as if they were in the chair for about 5 minutes as opposed to a couple of hours.

• Patients with very sensitive teeth who find it difficult to co-operate with the dentist can benefit from conscious sedation which takes away all of the pain and makes them feel less anxious about receiving treatment.

• Patients suffering dental phobia can have treatments which they may not have been able to do so for years thanks to the use of conscious sedation.

• Patients with conditions such as Parkinso’ns Disease which makes it difficult to control their bodily movements, and those with a gag reflex, find they benefit from the physical and mental relaxation which conscious sedation offers.

Although conscious sedation is a wonderful thing it isn’t suited to everyone and, if you’re already taking medication, then you must inform your Southend dentist.

If you’re apprehensive about visiting your dentist in Southend and suffer from dental phobia, then please mention this when you book an appointment. For some people their fear is of the unknown and once they visit the dental practice, meet the staff, and have their procedure explained to them, they often find their anxieties become a thing of the past. Call us today to find out more about conscious sedation or to make an appointment by calling 01702 465000 or visit our website at www.southenddentalcare.co.uk for more information. We’re a private and NHS dentist in Southend committed to providing the highest standards of dental care in all aspects.