Experience Quick and Painless Dental Care with Sedation Dentistry in Bellevue
Sedation dentistry in Bellevue aims to make dental visits as painless and relaxing as possible. Many people are afraid of going to the dentist, often feeling anxious even during a simple checkup for cavities. This fear, known as dental phobia, is the main reason many avoid their recommended regular dental visits, which include checkups, fillings, and cleanings.
To tackle this, Bellevue sedation dentistry offers an anxiety-free environment for patients. With sedation, patients can relax and reach a calm state, allowing the dentist to perform thorough check-ups, cleanings, and other procedures without the patient feeling pain or discomfort. Common sedatives include nitrous oxide, anti-anxiety pills, tranquilizers, and antidepressants.
Sedatives can be administered either intravenously (through the veins) or orally (by mouth). Intravenous sedation is often done by the dentist or their assistant, as they know the right veins to use for quick relief. Advances in medicine have also introduced other ways to administer sedatives, such as inhaling nitrous oxide, which avoids the use of needles and reduces fear.
For inhalation, the dentist might use a small gas mask over the patient’s nose or cotton strips with the gas. Either method quickly helps the patient relax, giving the dentist a chance to work without interruptions.
The benefits of sedation include a pain-free experience during dental procedures. Dentists often need to numb the area they are working on by injecting anesthetic into the nerves around the affected teeth. Doing this while the patient is asleep ensures they feel no pain. Another benefit is that the procedure seems to take only about twenty minutes to the patient, even though it might take a few hours. This is due to the patient being in a relaxed state thanks to the sedatives. Waking up during the procedure would be much more painful.
By eliminating anxiety, sedation dentistry allows patients to leave the clinic with a healthy smile and look forward to future checkups. It prevents the worsening of issues like toothaches, which would be much harder to address if the patient were fully awake during treatment.
However, sedation dentistry isn’t suitable for everyone. Patients with heart problems or general illnesses may face increased heart rates and breathing difficulties, leading to potential heart failure or strokes.