Sedation Dentistry - Countering Dental Phobia

A dental clinic is one place not many patients would like to visit very often unless they are compelled by painful toothache and there is no other choice. Fear is one negative emotion that keeps many people from visiting the dentist. It is not hard to believe that even adults fear the proceedings of dentistry. This is the reason why the sedation technique has emerged to help those who find it hard to conquer the fear of spatula of the dentist. In the simplest terms it is the common man’s tool to conquer dental phobia which has shown a phenomenal rise in recent years. The malicious side of dental phobia is that it prevents people from undergoing the very much needed routine dental care and occasional treatments that keep the teeth healthy.

Sedation- A study

Sedation is the scientific process of keeping the patient in a calm state of mind prior to any dental treatments. It takes care of the very root cause of fear. The process of sedation essentially involves the use of sedatives to tranquilize the nerves of the patient so that they take the dental treatments on a positive note. The sedative drugs include tranquilizers, anti depressants, anti- anxiety are administered to the patient to overcome the mental blocks of the patients suffering from dental phobia. But the idea of sedatives has undergone many transformations and patients can opt for easier methods of administering the drugs that does not involve any inhalation or injection of sedative drugs through injection. Many advanced techniques use some alternative methods to administer the sedative drugs that transform the patient’s agitated mental state to the one which is more relaxed and tranquilized.

Oral sedation dentistry has replaced the older techniques and the best thing is that they involve no needles. This transforms the patient to such comfortable mental state that the feels like they were into some deep sleep and no thought of being in a dental clinic. On many occasions anesthesia is followed by the sedation in order to complete shield against pain. But one should always trust a responsible practitioner in case of dental sedation. The sedation should be confused with sleeping because it is not sleeping and patients often are kept awake. But they are taken over by a feel good state that enables the patient to relax throughout the process. Then the patient hardly feels anything about the entire treatment procedure.