Many people experience fear or anxiety regarding dental treatment. When a patient is apprehensive, they tend to avoid the dentist allowing the pain to continue to impact their day to day life. In most cases, avoiding treatment can only cause the problem to become more serious.
Patient comfort is the highest priority for our team at Espire Dental. We want each patient to feel comfortable at each visit as we focus on their complete oral health. For this reason, we offer a couple of options to ease the anxiety a patient may be experiencing. The most common options in addressing patient anxiety are:
Nitrous oxide, sometimes called “laughing gas,” is one option to help make you more comfortable during certain procedures. It is not intended to put you to sleep and you will be able to hear and respond to any requests or directions. You will be asked to breathe normally with a mask through your nose, and within a few short minutes you should start to feel the effects of the nitrous oxide. This will ultimately make you feel calm and comfortable throughout your dental procedure. The effects of nitrous oxide wear off soon after the mask is removed.
This option includes the administration of an oral sedative drug (pill) to help you relax throughout the dental treatment. The use of medication additionally helps reduce memory or the sights and smells of the dental office that may cause the patient’s anxiety to avoid recall of the procedure.
Our doctors can have an Anesthesiologist come to the office and perform IV sedation for patients. With this method, the medication is administered through an IV directly into the patient’s system. If you suffer from dental anxiety we will assess your complete health and discuss with you in detail which sedation option may be best for your situation.