It is no surprise to dental professionals that the average patient does not enjoy visiting the dentist. We also know there are a lot of patient who are extremely afraid of many dental procedures or even simply being in the dental chair. Our goal is not only to provide you with great dental care, but we also want to make you feel as comfortable as possible in the process.
A term called comfort dentistry is used to describe methods your dentist can use to ease your apprehensiveness, and even you children’s nervousness, about being at the dentist.
The first method is nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas. A combination of nitrous oxide and oxygen is administered as you inhale the gases through a small piece over your nose. All you have to do is sit there and breathe normally, and within a few minutes, you feel the effects. Once the mask is taken off your face, the effects quickly wear off and you feel completely normal. Nitrous oxide does not make you unconscious or get rid of the pain. It does, however, make you feel extremely relaxed. Some patients describe the sensation as feeling the procedure, but they do not have a care in the world and are not fazed by any pain. When a person is administered nitrous oxide, they are able to drive themselves home.
Sometimes patients are not necessarily afraid of the dentist because of pain. They are afraid because of their gag reflex. If a patient gags very easily, it makes it close to impossible for a dental assistant or dental hygienist to take x-rays or impressions. There are times when x-rays can be postponed if there are no signs of an issue. However, at some point, there may come a time where they need to be done in order to properly diagnose a cavity or to take an impression for a dental prosthesis. Usually patients can hold in their gag reflex long enough for the procedure to be done, but there are still some patients where this is not possible. In these extreme cases, nitrous oxide is a great tool in reducing a strong gag reflex.
Another form of comfort dentist is oral medication. This method is quicker and easier than administering nitrous oxide gas because it only involves the patient taking a pill. Many of the effects of these drugs last longer than the effects of nitrous. That is why this method is used for longer procedures. Some do have shorter half-lives and can be used for shorter, simpler dental procedures. It is important the patient have someone else drive them home if they are given any of these oral medications.
When patients are so nervous about the dentist that they do not even want to be awake, some offices provide conscious sedation, deep sedation, or general anesthesia. These forms are more expensive to the patient, but it almost guarantees the patient will not feel anything during the procedure. During conscious sedation, you are awake, but you may fall asleep. This painless dentistry method not only relaxes you, but there is also an anesthetic affect to actually decrease the pain. Conscious sedation wears off quickly so is best used for shorter procedures. Deep sedation puts a patient to sleep, but they are able to be woken up if repeatedly stimulated. This pain free dentistry is different than general anesthesia where the patient is asleep but cannot be woken up even from painful stimuli. The patient will need someone else to drive them home after a procedure using any of these methods. We offer professional sedation dentistry in Coral Springs to help ease our clients through any dental procedure they require.
If you are someone who is nervous about coming to the dentist or about getting certain procedures done, do not hesitate to ask any of our Coral Springs dentist team about the options we provide to help make your experience at our office as relaxing as possible.Consult your dentist Coral Springs to find the best option for you!