Sedation & Sleep Dentistry Procedures
Minimal Discomfort Dentistry To Minimise Your Anxiety
Anxiety amongst dental patients can prove to be a daunting challenge. Dealing with anxiety can be tough for everyone involved. It often leads to unnecessary stress or even to people not showing up for dental appointments at all.
What people don’t realise is how crucial it is to deal with dental problems right away. By delaying or ignoring intervention, we risk greater problems which can affect the health, wellness, speech, confidence, mental health and overall well-being of a person.
Dental anxiety affects many Australians today. Studies by Oral-B show that eight out of ten Australians admit to having some level of anxiety when visiting the dentist. With the anxiety comes a level of unneeded discomfort. It also brings serious risks of error caused by panic during procedures.
Dental decay is also now more prevalent among Australian children with more than half of six-year-old Australians suffering from some form of tooth decay. And getting children to dental visits can be a real challenge at any time.
Anxiety can be a real issue, but it’s an issue that can be alleviated with the right solutions. One of the most common and readily available solutions today is sleep dentistry.
What is Sleep Dentistry?
Sleep Dentistry is the process of performing dental procedures while the patient is induced with general anaesthesia (GA), causing a patient to “sleep” while going through the process. This allows for minimal discomfort dentistry, giving patients peace of mind necessary to bring them through the whole process.
A general anaesthetic dentist brings patients under a state of extreme calm which can even lead to the patient having no memory of any part of the procedure whatsoever. General anaesthesia brings relaxation to the body’s nerve systems making patients oblivious to pain receptors for a given amount of time.
You can stop avoiding the dentist once and for all and get back on track on your road to oral health.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Statistics show that more and more patients prefer “sleeping” during dental procedures. There also seems to be an increase in preference once the procedure becomes more major.
Here Are A Few Numbers To Look At
7.2%
Patients prefer sedation for cleaning procedures.
18%
Of patients prefer sedation for fillings or crowns.
54.7%
Of patients prefer sedation for endodontics.
68.2%
Of patients prefer sedation for periodontal surgery.
46.5%
Of patients prefer sedation for tooth extraction.
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15859442
A great number of patients prefer to be heavily sedated in dental surgeries. And with the technologies we provide here in Melbourne at Dental Boutique, we can provide you with the steps necessary to relieve you of any anxiety-induced stress or risks associated with such fears.
Oral medication – valium or a sedative – will take the edge off.
Dr Peter Alldritt
Chairman, Australian Dental Association’s oral health committee
Who Needs Sleep Dentistry?
Patients dealing with anxieties and fears towards dental procedures. When you’re faced with a fear of dentists, the best way to get through the process is to get through it with sleep dentistry. There’s nothing to be afraid of when you’re relaxed and calmed for the procedure.
Patients with traumatic past experiences. You might have had a bad experience with previous dental procedures. While our goal at Dental Boutique is to be as excellent as possible when it comes to our dental practice, we understand that some traumas do not leave overnight. We use sleep dentistry to set aside that trauma for the time being.
Patients with general anxiety disorders. Maybe you don’t have a fear of dentists. Maybe it’s a fear of needles, of the sound of a drill, or maybe just a general anxiety disorder. We completely understand and we’ll find a way to make you feel comfortable.
Patients with low tolerance for pain. Some patients have very sensitive oral nerve endings. If that’s you then a certain level of sleep dentistry can prove to be extremely helpful.
Patients with resistance to local anesthetics. Yes, we know local anesthetics don’t work for some. We can provide you with something more potent.
Patients with small mouths. People with small mouths can often tire from keeping their mouth open through a long procedure. Sleep dentistry can eliminate discomfort, resulting in a minimal discomfort procedure.
Is General Anesthesia Beneficial For You?
Determining the source of your anxiety and how you best cope can help you determine if sleep dentistry will work for you or if general anesthesia might work best. There are sleep dentistry methods, for instance, that come through IV insertions, so that won’t be the best for people who are afraid of needles. If you want to learn more about sleep dentistry, the side effects and the costs, you can speak with us at any point. We’d love to help guide you through your dental journey.
Alternatives to Sleep Dentistry
At Dental Boutique, we have invested time and resources to grow our knowledge in minimal discomfort dental procedures that will work for any patient who needs it. Here are a few other alternatives to sleep dentistry that we also have available:
Relaxation Techniques
There are different relaxation techniques that will be able to help you get through your anxiety problems on the dental chair. We love teaching these techniques to anyone who wants to learn and apply them.
The simplest of the techniques is controlled breathing. By breathing well and right, you feel more relaxed and calm when the fear starts to set in. Another alternative is listening to music. We provide our patients with headsets that can allow them to take their mind off things as we do our work.
Creating Fail-Safe Signals
Some patients want to be up and alert during procedures to ensure they have full control over everything. With this, we usually create fail-safe signals that our patients can use whenever things don’t go the way they would want them to. These signals can be as simple as raising one’s hand once in discomfort.
Gas Inhalation
Gas inhalation can help you relax through the process. It relieves you of fear and anxiety while still being able to respond and to be in control during the procedure. After the procedure is done, the effects of gas dissipates quite quickly and leaves no traces or side effects.
IV Sedation
Intravenous or IV sedation is another procedure that allows you to be awake during the procedure. However, due to its potency there’s a chance you will not be able to recall certain things that may have occurred during the procedure. The effects come in quickly and we can and often do set the dosage to meet the patient’s tailored needs.
Minimal Discomfort And Needleless Injection
Advances in technology has brought sedation to the next level. We also carry an option for patients to be sedated through a needleless and minimal discomfort injection.The needleless solution is made of small, lightweight, spring-operated device that delivers anaesthetic into the gum as an extremely fine jet of liquid in a fraction of a second.
We also have in our facilities a technology that controls the flow of anesthetic via a computer program, making the flow of anesthetics more steady and making the procedure more comfortable.
Providing Sleep Dentistry Near You
We have expanded our service locations. Now you can receive our sleep dentistry services in Melbourne, Mornington and Geelong, We are also expanding to other major cities soon!
At our other clinic locations in Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane, patients can receive Intravenous or IV sedation.
Talk To Dental Boutique Today
We invite you to experience our no obligation assessment to help guide, educate and confirm the treatments that are right for you. We’re experienced in a range of treatments and procedures, including dental implants, cosmetic dentistry, dental bonding, and dental crowns and bridges.
Our friendly and highly trained team are passionate and meticulous about creating beautiful and lasting smiles. We want to ensure that your procedure is as comfortable as possible, so if you’re looking for a friendly dentist, look no further than Dental Boutique. Give us a call on 1300 32 76453 to schedule an appointment.
