Tackling Your Dental Treatment Plan

If you are afraid of the dentist, you may already have avoided multiple dental appointments. As a result, you may have missed treatments that were important to the maintenance of your dental health. Nevertheless, you don't have to continue to avoid the dentist to quell your dental fears.

Many dentists offer dental sedation services that help you relax while you are in the dental chair. Here are a few of them. 

Oral Sedatives

Your dentist can prescribe oral sedatives, such as Valium, to help you feel calm throughout your appointment. Oral sedation medications are usually taken about thirty minutes prior to the appointment. Thus, you will need someone to drive you to your dental visit. 

The medications don't render you unconscious, but you may feel unusually sleepy and restful. In addition, oral sedatives that are categorized as benzodiazepines may help you forget the details of your dental procedure, which can help ensure that memories of your dental treatment do not exacerbate your fears. 

Inhaled Sedation

Your dentist may also treat your dental anxiety with an inhaled sedative, such as nitrous oxide. The medication, which is commonly called "laughing gas," enters your system as you take deep breaths that fill your lungs with the gas. 

Laughing gas helps you feel worry-free throughout your treatment. It takes effect quickly and wears off sooner than oral sedatives. However, since it is applied in the dental office, there is no need for the effects to linger for hours. Additionally, if the sedation starts to wear off before your treatment is complete, the dentist can readminister it. 

Relaxation Techniques

Some dentists employ relaxation techniques to help you remain at ease. They may play relaxing music or ask you to focus on calming pictures that have been placed on the ceiling of the treatment room. The dentist may also ask you to tighten and relax certain muscles systematically to relieve the tension associated with dental anxiety. 

Some dentists may even use hypnosis to lessen your dental fears. Dental professionals that use hypnosis are specially trained to use the pharmaceutical-free technique.

Intravenous Sedation

Dentists may also provide sedation medication intravenously. Through the IV, the medicine enters your bloodstream directly. To help ensure that the medication is applied safely, your vital signs are monitored during the administration of the medication and throughout the dental procedure. 

To learn more ways to calm your dental fears, schedule a consultation with a dentist offering dental sedation in your local area.