O’Fallon Sedation Dentists Help Many Types of Patients Receive Preventive Restorative and Cosmetic Dental Care
When it comes time to pursue major dental treatment, many dental patients feel anxious and uncertain about how the treatment process will unfold. This is really common! The best thing that you can do is to speak to your dental team about your concerns, and consider whether sedation dental treatments can help!
Our O’Fallon dentists offer a number of sedation options; we’ll help you determine what type of sedation is best for your situation.
For people who do not struggle with dental anxiety, local anesthesia may be all you need to stay calm and comfortable in the dentist’s chair. Local anesthesia numbs a specific part of the patient’s mouth—our dental team simply injects the numbing agent into the relevant area of the patient’s mouth.
In order to achieve a more overall calming effect, you may benefit from nitrous oxide—commonly called “laughing gas.” Laughing gas is inhaled through a nose or face mask; once you have inhaled you will start to feel relaxed and perhaps a little giggly!
Another sedation option is oral conscious sedation. One benefit of oral conscious sedation is that it actually starts to work before you even get into the dentist’s office. Our dentist will prescribe a small sedative pill, and you’ll take this pill at home about an hour before your appointment. By the time you get into the dentist’s chair, you’ll feel calm, confident, and ready for treatment. One important note about oral conscious sedation: as the name suggests, you are never actually unconscious while sedated. However, oral conscious sedation does have amnesic effects, so you likely won’t remember any of the treatment process once you are home.
With all of the sedation options available today, there is truly no reason to keep living with a smile that you don’t love. Contact our O’Fallon sedation dentists for more information and to schedule a personal consultation with our team!