You should enjoy painless dentistry when good techniques are used. Learn about painless injections, IV sedation dentistry & pain-free sleep dentistry here.
IV Sedation Dentistry (aka sleep dentistry)
People refer to IV sedation dentistry by a number of other names…
- sleep dentistry
- sedation dentistry
- pain-free dentistry
- painless dentistry
- relaxation dentistry
- anxiety-free dentistry
- conscious sedation dentistry
IV means intravenous. Sedation means to have a soothing or calming effect to decrease fear and anxiety.
The most commonly used sedation drugs are Hypnovel and Fentanyl, but Graham has had advanced training that enables him to use Propofol and Remifentanyl, which delivers a superior sedation experience.
Graham uses Target Controlled Infusion (TCI), in which specialist anaesthetic technology is used to deliver a continuous infusion of the sedation drugs. The dose is adjusted for your weight, height, age and sex.
A Bispectral (BIS) monitor enables us to monitor the brain’s frontal cortex via a digital display to tell us exactly how sedated you are.
By adjusting the drug’s flow rate and monitoring you with the BIS monitor, we can safely and precisely sedate you.
You are not actually put to sleep (hence the term ‘conscious sedation dentistry), but people often feel as if they have been because they have no memory of the procedure. We talk to you during the procedure, and ask you how you are, and if you’re happy. It is a ‘conscious’ technique after all.
When is IV sedation dentistry useful?
Dental phobia and dental anxiety. It’s okay to be anxious or scared of dental treatment, but don’t use it as a reason for not going. It can be managed so effectively with IV sedation dentistry that your anxiety disappears, enabling you to cope quite easily.
Gaggers. Many people are embarrassed that they gag easily. You may find it difficult to cope with instruments and water in your mouth while we work. This is a common problem and nothing to be ashamed of. IV sedation dentistry can overcome these difficulties.
We have patients who hadn’t been unable to undergo dental treatment prior to coming to us.
Unpleasant procedures. Specific procedures really benefit from the use of IV sedation dentistry. Wisdom tooth removal is an example. If there are procedures that feel nerve-wracking to you, you are not alone.
Apprehension is common but thankfully IV sedation is a wonderful way to remove your anxiety. It allows you to completely relax and makes dentistry a whole lot less stressful.
Involuntary movements. There’s also a safety benefit to IV sedation dentistry for people who may otherwise have involuntary movements during the procedure.
Long appointments. We commonly do long sessions where we have one patient for the day and complete all of their work in one visit. Without IV sedation it can be quite onerous, but IV sedation dentistry is very helpful in managing long sessions.
Talk to us about IV sedation dentistry…Phone 360-2475 » (click to call) |
If you experience dental anxiety or dental phobia, you’ll relate to Claire’s story…
Claire’s story
As a formerly reluctant and anxious dental patient I have had a complete reversal of attitude after receiving treatment at Jervois Dental. I began replacing my old black fillings with white ceramic inlays one by one but then took the plunge to have a day of treatment under sedation to do the bulk of them.
Having already had sedation to remove wisdom teeth I knew how truly pleasant the experience would be … and I never thought I would be using pleasant and dental treatment in the same breath.
The biggest change for me was not feeling anxious and panicky in the days leading up to the treatment, knowing I would be unaware of the procedures while not feeling heavily anaesthetised.
There were no side effects and pretty much immediately after being woken up I was raring to go. I have recommended to quite a few people needing two or more teeth done that they consider the option of having it done at the same time under sedation, especially if they are at all nervous.
– Claire Watson
Painless Injections
You’re not alone if you think dental injections are painful. But did you know there’s a method that makes injections either totally pain free, or causes only minor discomfort?
Over many years of practice Graham has worked out a systematic approach to local anaesthetic injections that works. Hardly a day goes by without a patient exclaiming, “I didn’t feel anything at all!” or, “That’s amazing, I didn’t even know you’d done it! Was that an injection?”
Graham’s favourite is when you continue talking while he is doing the injection, oblivious to what is happening!
Here are some of the components of Graham’s painless injection technique…
- A topical anaesthetic paste is applied to the injection site at least one minute prior to the injection.
- The local anaesthetic is warmed up prior to injection to ensure no thermal irritation.
- Graham uses a jiggling action with his finger adjacent to the injection site to create a distraction effect. There is a scientific basis to this decreasing your awareness of the injection. The alternative stimulus (jiggling) modifies the way your brain processes what’s happening.
- Finally, the anaesthetic is injected very slowly to cause little or no discomfort to the surrounding tissue from the pressure of the fluid being introduced.
Modern local anaesthetic agents are now also much more potent and effective. They produce profound numbness very quickly.
We still hear people saying that in the past the injection hurt more than the drilling, or that the injection didn’t work anyway. These situations are, thankfully, now ancient history.
Talk to us about IV sedation dentistry…Phone 360-2475 » (click to call) |