Are You Awake During Dental Sedation?

What Is Dental Sedation?

It entails using different medications to sedate you prior to a dental procedure. Dental sedation promotes the feeling of calmness, ease, and relaxation when you would otherwise be fearful and anxious.

How Does Dental Sedation Work?

Langley sedation dental services differ depending on the type of sedation. You should expect the following when you undergo sedation dentistry in a dental clinic in Langley:

• Tablet or pill – your dentist will give you one or more pills to swallow, usually an hour before your procedure. It is a conscious type of sedation, meaning that many patients stay awake during their treatments.
• Inhaling laughing gas – a dentist will place a face mask over your nose and mouth, allowing you to breathe laughing gas and oxygen. The dentist can keep adjusting the dosage while you undergo treatment.
• Injection – a dentist near you will locate a vein on your arm for delivering sedative medications directly into your bloodstream. This type of sedation is called intravenous sedation. It is the fastest and deepest form of conscious sedation in dentistry. While you may easily fall asleep with this type of sedation, you can communicate with your dentist since it is not a deep sleep.

Will You Be Awake During Oral Sedation?

Different levels of sedation have varying effects on your body. When under moderate or deep sedation, you are very likely to fall asleep during your treatment. Deep sedation is often common for general anesthesia, typical for long oral surgeries. However, dentists in Langley prefer IV sedation for moderate sedation. Although you will be conscious, you may feel groggy or fall in and out of sleep. The good news is that you will have temporal amnesia, which will ensure you have no clear recollection of what happened during your treatment.

Do You Feel Pain with Dental Sedation?

Sedation dentistry at Novacare Dental does more than just treat dental anxiety. It calms your brain and body during your treatment. The calm state of the brain makes it impossible for your body to release impulses stimulated by stress in your system by heightening insensitivity to pain. Besides, dentists use a combination of sedation and local anesthesia. While the sedative calms your brain ad body, the anesthesia numbs your mouth. The result is a pain-free relaxed dental experience. You may not even remember much from the eventualities of your treatment, which will protect your brain from forming new traumatic dental experiences.

How Long Does Dental Sedation Last?

Dentists can use different types of sedatives. The medicine will last in your body for as long as the duration of your treatment. After the dentist completes all dental work (s)he will use different medications to counter the effects of the sedative in your system. It is especially true for IV sedation and general anesthesia. When under inhaled sedation, the dentist will reduce the level of laughing gas you inhale while increasing that of oxygen to neutralize the sedating effect.

However, even though sedation wears off easily, you need to be accompanied by someone on your way home. Other than with inhaled sedation, you may still feel groggy after sedation. Your dentist will recommend having someone accompany you home after your procedure so you can rest as all the sedative wears off from your system.

Should You Get Dental Sedation for Your Treatments?

Not all dental procedures necessitate sedation. Dentists recommend sedation dentistry to patients who need it, typically under the following circumstances:

• If you have dental anxiety
• When undergoing multiple dental procedures
• When you are scheduled for a long oral treatment
• If you have fear of visiting a dentist
• If you have a hard time sitting still while your dentist works in your oral cavity
• If you are undergoing a heightened tooth sensitivity or excruciating dental pain, especially during dental emergencies
• When you have an intense fear of needles
• When you have underlying mental issues, for instance, depression, anxiety, or other health anomalies like autism
• When you have severe gag reflexes – make it impossible for a dentist to get any work done in your oral cavity.
• When you have a decreased sensitivity to local anesthesia so that you are still experiencing pain after numbing your mouth