Sleep Dentistry: An Alternative Dental Care For Patients With Dental Phobia
Dental phobia is not a myth. There are patients who are unable to undergo any dental procedure without the assistance of sedation medication. The degree of phobia varies in each patient. One patient may experience mild symptoms such as profuse sweating, butterflies and nausea while others may display extreme anxiety that include increased heartbeat and panic spells. Dental phobics needing immediate dental care are the best candidates for sleep dentistry.
With sleep dentistry procedure, the dentist utilizes anesthetic drugs to put the patient in a deep level of complete sleep. With this method, the patient does not feel any pain nor has any memory of the treatment.
Anesthesia is administered by using anesthetic drugs. In addition, inhalation agents such as nitrous oxide or happy gas may be administered to assist the patient in going through different levels of relaxation and until he reaches the state of complete sleep. With general anesthesia, the patient will not hear, smell or feel any pain during the procedure. The state of deep, complete sleep blocks all memories and inhibits normal body reflexes to pain making the procedure easy for the dentist to perform.
In the past, sleep dentistry procedures are done in a hospital setting where it is more equipped to handle sleep dentistry procedures. Today, innovation in dental care technology allow the patient to have the dental work procedure at the dentist’s clinic. The effects of anesthesia can last for hours after the treatment. The patient will be allowed to leave the dental clinics once he is fully awake.
If you want to learn more about sleep dentistry options, visit our Ft Lauderdale dentists at sleepdentists.com. Our team of dentists and oral surgeons has general anesthesia permits from the state of Florida and our office facilities meet the state requirements for the administration of general anesthesia.
