Oral Sedation at the Dentist

Video Transcript

"The next forum we're going to talk about is oral sedation. Oral sedation is basically one step up from the nitrous oxide and the fact that you're ingesting a pill prior to your appointment. It again, addresses anxiety and also a little pain control. And, simply with taking a small pill roughly forty-five minutes to an hour before your appointment you can get much more adequate sleepiness. So, that you're comfortable again sitting in the dental chair. This is a little bit different, in the fact that it takes a little while to get into your system and it also lasts longer. So, unlike the nitrous oxide where within five minutes it's completely out of your system. This pill will actually sustain sleepiness and relaxed state for anywhere from two to six hours. It's because of this, that allows the dentist to be able to achieve a great deal of work. That way, it's comfortable for the patient. And, also produces a state where a state of amnesia where the patient often times will not remember much that happened. That enables us to get a lot of work done in a small amount of time. It provides the patient the ability to be comfortable and relaxed for several hours if need be. And, allows us to basically do a lot of dentistry in one small appointment. Again, the oral sedation is a great option for someone who's mild to moderately fearful and they feel that the nitrous oxide will not work alone. We also can sometimes do oral sedation in conjunction with the nitrous oxide. That way, we can kind of increase the level of pain control. And, this is often times the most commonly used one by dentists is having you take a pill such as like a Valium or a Triazolam or something like Ativan. Which, are all sedatives. Taking them before the appointment and then coming in and having the laughing gas in addition to the oral medication in order to basically get you into the most controlled state possible. So, that we can do a great deal of dentistry. Some of the contraindications for oral sedation, are if you're one that has a lot of difficulty with snoring or sleep apnea or asthma. Those are all contraindications for why you may not be a candidate for oral sedation. I would encourage you, that if this is something you are interested in you need to talk with your dentist to make sure you have an adequate medical history that is compatible with oral sedation. Having said that, oral sedation is a very great option available. And, is kind of the standard right now in dentistry and that's the one we typically use."