We want your child to have a relaxed, comfortable, and enjoyable experience during every visit. That’s why at Hero Pediatric Dentistry in Gainesville, VA, we offer safe dental sedation options in order to help your child experience less anxiety or discomfort and more ease throughout their time under our care. If your child needs sedation, we’ll help you decide which level is appropriate and monitor your child throughout their appointment to ensure their continued safety. Book online or call today to get started!
What Is Sedation?
Dental sedation is a tool that dentists use to help your child feel less anxious and more comfortable during a procedure. To sedate your child, a dentist will choose from several different kinds of medication, each of which provides a certain level of sedation that may be more appropriate for a specific kind of procedure. Regardless of the type, sedation medication can help make things easier for your child by relieving or eliminating both the physical and emotional discomfort that may otherwise occur during a trip to the dentist.
What Is the Difference Between Sedation & Local Anesthetic?
You and your child may be familiar with local anesthetic — the novocaine injection that dentists use to numb an area of the mouth before working on it. This is aimed simply at blocking the nerves in that area from causing any discomfort during the procedure.
Sedation is different. While it can ease some physical discomfort (and will typically be used alongside a local anesthetic for more effective results), sedation is especially useful for addressing any feelings of anxiety or fear that your child may be feeling. This is something that local anesthetic can’t do, so if your child dislikes the dentist or has a big procedure coming up, sedation can help give them a calmer, gentler experience.
Is Sedation Safe?
Yes. Our team is trained to safely use sedation to help your child have a better experience at the dentists.
What Are the Different Levels of Sedation?
We can provide several different levels or types of sedation depending on your child’s needs.
Nitrous Oxide
Nitrous oxide is the basic level of sedation. During their procedure, your child will wear a breathing mask over their nose that allows them to breathe a mixture of air and nitrous oxide gas. This will help your child feel more relaxed and comfortable and is suitable for less invasive dental work.
Conscious Sedation
Conscious sedation is the next level up from nitrous oxide. This involves administering a medication, often in pill form, that puts your child into a relaxed, even drowsy state where they are less aware of what is going on around them. The results are stronger than those caused by nitrous oxide and may last for a little while after the appointment is finished.
IV Sedation
IV sedation is a type of conscious sedation where the medication is administered via an IV drip rather than as a pill. This allows for even stronger results and can put your child into a drowsy state of semi-waking that is often called twilight.
Outpatient General Anesthesia
For major oral surgeries, we may recommend that your child go under general anesthesia. This will keep your child completely unconscious throughout the entire procedure. Because general anesthesia needs to be administered by a licensed anesthesiologist, we will perform your child’s surgery at a hospital or outpatient surgical center.
Gentle, Experienced Care
Our team of friendly pediatric dental experts looks forward to taking great care of your child. Book an appointment online or call today!
