I’ve worked on a lot of teeth over the past thirty-plus years.Yes, I’ve seen (literally) millions of them, and dealt with a number of oral problems. I’ve helped care for the mouths of everyone from linebackers on the UCLA Bruins football team to your neighborhood paper boy. In this process, I’ve learned that we all have a few things in common. We all feel the desire for healthy teeth and a beautiful smile. We also all share a fear of the dentist.
As your dentist, I don’t want to make you feel any pain whatsoever–trust me. When a patient is a tight bundle of nerves and anxiety before an exam or procedure, it just makes my job more difficult, not to mention making a relatively painless process excruciating for the patient. But I totally understand the fear of the dentist–I don’t particularly like having sharp, pokey things near my teeth, either.
Unfortunately, too often adults let their dental anxieties keep them from going to the dentist. They ignore small pain until it becomes unbearable–just increasing the scope of the dental treatment they’ll need. This is a bad cycle.
If your fear of the dentist is getting in the way of your oral health, I have some good news. Great advancements are being made in increasing the comfort of dental care, meaning that these days, the chances that you’ll actually experience the amount of pain you’re imagining at the dentist are highly unlikely. Read on to learn more about just one option we offer at our Los Angeles dental office: oral sedation dentistry.
All About Sedation Dentistry
If your anxiety won’t let you face the dental chair, oral sedation dentistry is an excellent way to help you manage your fear. With oral sedation, you’ll take a small pill before the procedure. Then we’ll get you comfortable in the dentist chair with a blanket and a dental assistant by your side to answer any questions you may have. Dr. Latner will then administer nitrous oxide to enhance the pill’s sedative effects, allowing him to work for as long as he needs to while you rest comfortably.
Although you’re still technically awake under sedation, you’re in a sleepy state and totally removed from what’s going on around you. That means there’s no chance your anxiety will be triggered by the sight of a needle or the sound of a drill. Instead, you’ll float through the procedure. And when it’s over you’ll have plenty of time for the medication to wear off in one of our comfortable recovery rooms while a loved one waits by your side to drive you home.
Oral Sedation: It’s Right For You
We know too well that smiles often suffer as a result of dental anxiety. We want that to stop–and that’s why we’re so excited to offer oral sedation dentistry to our patients who have a fear of the dentist. But this option isn’t limited to those suffering from severe anxiety. If you think you’d benefit from being more relaxed in the dentist’s chair, you’re probably a good candidate, too. So stay calm and let the doctor take over–try oral sedation dentistry.