Sedation Dentistry

Some patients, they literally cannot get x-rays or even a cleaning done without sedation. Nitrous oxide gas is very common and popular, and I think most people know it as laughing gas. And you breathe it in. It makes you feel less anxious, but you're conscious. You're breathing on your own. You follow instructions. You stop breathing it in at the end of the procedure and you're fine. You drive home and everything is fine. The next level is oral conscious sedation, which is . . . can be in conjunction with nitrous. And you have to have a special dental permit for that. And we've had that permit for a long time, and it's very helpful for those patients that need something a little bit more than the nitrous laughing gas. So we give them a Halcion. It's very similar to valium and that, in conjunction with the nitrous, is fabulous for most patients. They need a driver, you know, to go home. So they can't drive, but they have a lot of amnesia from the appointment. They don't really remember a lot, and what they do remember is kind of like, "Yeah, it was fine," you know. The level after that is IV sedation, and that can either be conscious or general. And that we have an anesthesiologist that we bring in. We have a surgical suite in the back, and those are for those patients that don't want to be awake for the procedure. They want to go to sleep and wake up, and it all be done. And there are quite a few patients that require that or want that. And it's a great option for patients that really can't do their dental any other way. So it's a great service that we offer.