If you ever feel anxious on your way to the dentist, know that you’re not alone. Many children, teens, and even adults fear the pain often associated with dental procedures. However, there are multiple ways to help reduce this fear, one being dental anesthesia.
There are numerous levels of sedation that can be used on a patient. These range from minimal sedation where you are still awake but calm and relaxed, up to general anesthesia where you are completely “asleep,” or unconscious. General anesthesia is necessary to perform surgical procedures that can cause significant pain or generate a stress response, but you’ll usually get the choice of what anesthesia method you want to use. It’s highly recommended that you discuss the pros and cons of each method with your dentist to figure out what’s best for your unique situation.
WE’LL GIVE YOU A HEAD START WITH A GENERIC LIST OF THE PROS AND CONS OF DENTAL ANESTHESIA.
There are three main types of dental anesthesia: local, sedation, and general anesthesia. Local is the most common form used in dentistry, but general anesthesia may be necessary for longer, more invasive procedures that require you to be completely asleep. Local anesthetics make the mouth numb in minutes through a small gumline injection, blocking all pain signals. Sedation is used to offer a full-body calming effect during your procedure, usually administered through “laughing gas.”
Once the medication hits your bloodstream, the effects will kick in extremely fast. Usually, this happens in less than a minute. Most patients report not remembering anything after the anesthetic is administered.
Yes, the most common side effects a patient may experience are nausea, vomiting, headaches, sweating, shivering, confusion, hallucination, slurred speech, dry mouth, sore throat, dizziness, tiredness, numbness, lockjaw, and delay in the return of normal memory functioning. More major, but uncommon side effects are malignant hyperthermia, allergic reaction, nerve damage, seizure, coma, stroke, and low blood pressure. Reactions might be mild or severe and can also include rash, itching, swelling of the tongue, lips, mouth, or throat, and difficulty breathing.
If you ever feel anxious on your way to the dentist, know that you’re not alone. Many children, …
If you ever feel anxious on your way to the dentist, know that you’re not alone. Many children, …
If you ever feel anxious on your way to the dentist, know that you’re not alone. Many children, …