February 6, 2018

Dental anxiety is a major contributor to adults allowing their oral health to lapse, a dangerous habit that can have profound and life-long effects on your overall health and your appearance. Luckily, there are ways to help people with anxiety deal with it without experiencing the negative side effects. Among them are sedation dentistry, the practice of using medications to help alleviate symptoms of stress and anxiety around procedures. If you experience regular dental anxiety symptoms, consider working with a periodontist in Miami, FL, who understands how sedation helps, like Dr. Ross.

Forms of Sedation

Everyone has heard of sedation of one kind or another for dental procedures, because several of the options available are used as regular dental anesthetics. The formal label is not usually applied to them, but the same options are available to patients requesting sedation, as are a couple of new options that are just used for anxiety.

  • Local Anesthetic: This allows the area to be numbed, so patients will not feel what is happening during a procedure. It’s commonly used for fillings and similar procedures, but can be used as needed for other dental tasks.
  • Oral Sedation: Taking a pill about an hour before you come in allows the sedative to take effect before an appointment. We do require patients have a ride to and from the office when using this method.
  • NO2: Also called laughing gas, the anesthetic effects include euphoria, and they wear off in minutes.
  • IV Sedation: This method leaves the patient unconscious throughout the procedure, and like oral sedation it requires patients have transportation home from the appointment.

Contact the Periodontist

Your next appointment can go a lot smoother if you talk to our office about your dental anxiety. Sedation dentistry is widely available, and we are happy to set an appointment for you to discuss the options with Dr. Ross as well. It just takes a phone call to start.

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