You Can Overcome Dental Anxiety Using Sedation Dentistry

We offer sedation dentistry so that all of our patients can feel comfortable and relax during their dental treatments.  It is extremely common for adults to have fears about visiting the dentist.  In fact, according to research conducted by the University of Washington’s Dental Fears Clinic, five to eight percent of adults won’t visit the dentist due to dental phobia.  Another twenty percent avoid it unless absolutely necessary.  If you fall into this category, know that modern dentistry has improved to the point that you can receive the treatment you need without fear or concern.

When visiting our dental office, let us know if you have mild to severe dental phobia so that we can create a treatment plan to address the issue. It is first important to understand why you are concerned about visiting the dentist.

Here are some common issues that we see:

    Fear of dental work.  This is extremely common, but it is important to know that most dental procedures do not hurt.  Unfortunately, the myth of dental pain has been spread to such a degree that even people that have never experienced it are afraid of it.  We understand that sometimes the fear of something is significantly more powerful than the reality.  With this in mind, we offer sedation dentistry to help patients relax ahead of the procedure.  For example, valium may be prescribed, and it can be taken in advance to help calm fears and anxiety. 
    Concern that pain medication won’t work.  We provide a variety of solutions, and they all work extremely well.  We can ensure that patients do not feel any discomfort during their treatment and give additional medication as necessary.
    Fear of the unknown.  Many people become worried because they don’t know what to expect.  During your dental exam, we will discuss any suggested procedures in detail and let you ask as many questions as you need to.  This way you can become comfortable with what is going to happen and start to feel more relaxed.

Once we understand what is causing your dental phobia, we can make a plan to address it.  For many people, they don’t need actual pain medication because the procedures aren’t painful.  Instead, they simply need to relax with a valium or nitrous oxide.  Typically, this can eliminate any anxiety and therefore prevent feelings of pain.

If a more major procedure is being completed like getting dental veneers or dental implants, we can use a stronger form of sedation dentistry.  This may require an IV so that we can give you continuous medication and increase the dosage as needed.  Other times we can administer the medication with a shot to the area that is being worked on (this is more common with cavities).  If your anxiety is severe or if you are getting oral surgery for dental implants, we will typically put you to sleep with deep sedation.  This way we can do our work while you sleep and don’t remember a thing.  This may be used with children as well so that they can hold still while work is being performed.

Regardless of why you don’t like visiting the dentist, we can help so call and schedule your consultation today.