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Do you suffer from a dental phobia? With our dentist in St Albans, we provide conscious sedation to help our more cautious patients through their procedures. Let’s talk more about what it involves and how it could help you.
We understand how a dental phobia can be extremely detrimental by delaying access to treatment, resulting in more harm being caused and usually more aggressive forms of treatment having to be used in the long term. There is no mistaking how serious it can be, with many patients unnecessarily suffering physically and psychologically.
It is with this in mind that we have equipped our dentist in St Albans and extended staff training to allow us to provide IV sedation techniques, that allow us to administer drugs straight into the bloodstream via an injection in the back of the hand, inducing conscious sedation.
We understand that the use of conscious sedation has to be balanced with the simple fact that most nervous patients will not even consider treatment without it. That said, we do not advise conscious sedation for all patients, as it carries with it additional risks beyond local sedation and can be quite inconvenient and disruptive.
We achieve this level of sedation by administering an anaesthetic intravenously; the exact dosage will depend on your weight. Whilst under the effect of the sedative, you will be able to communicate and respond to instructions. This allows our dentist to ask questions and receive feedback at the important stages during the treatment, but you will have no memory of the procedure and at the time will only experience a warm, comfortable and calm state.
There are some patients for whom sedation is not an option due to interaction with the prescriptions that they are taking. It’s important to tell our dentist if there are any prescription medications you are taking and anything else relevant in your medical history.
Conscious sedation leaves patients in a highly suggestive state as well, incapable of operating heavy machinery. You have to remain with a responsible escort after receiving conscious sedation and avoid making any important decisions or financial commitments for 24 hours.
Therapeutic index on the drugs used to induce conscious sedation is very wide and allergic reactions very uncommon; this is what has allowed this form of anaesthesia to be used in dental clinics.
Almost all the treatments we provide can be carried out using conscious sedation and a patient’s emotional reaction to a procedure is considered the important factor whether it be for a filling root canal or extraction. Providing a caring and sympathetic environment is what we strive for.
If you suffer from a dental phobia or know of a family member who requires dental care, but has issues with dentistry in general, please feel free to get in contact with our dentist in St Albans and ask about conscious sedation. We are currently accepting new patients and are happy to accept referrals from other dentists of anxious patients, if they do not already provide conscious sedation as part of their services.