Sedation Dentistry
What is Nitrous Oxide, Sedation and General Anesthesia ?
Most children do well for most dental procedures. Our doctors and staff are specially trained to help your children feel comfortable in the dental setting. However, many children can feel anxious for a dental procedure, and may need more than a kind voice to make them feel comfortable.
Sedation techniques utilized here at Children’s Dental Ark are administered by properly trained Pediatric Dentists following the Guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.
Nitrous Oxide is a safe, effective agent used to ease the sensations of dental treatment. The gas is administered through a mask, it has a rapid onset, it is reversible, and is rapidly blown away with room air. The gas is non-allergenic, and your child has all of their natural reflexes when it is applied.
Nitrous Oxide can be used alone or combined with other sedative agents.
Oral Conscious Sedation can be indicated for those children whose anxiety prevents good coping skills, those who are too young to understand how to cooperate, or those requiring extensive dental treatment. Your child’s reflexes will remain intact and can respond to questions and requests while undergoing sedative appointments. Monitoring devices are utilized throughout all sedative appointments.
General Anesthesia may be necessary for those children with extensive treatment needs who are also extremely uncooperative or who are so young that coping in the dental environment is impossible. Others who may benefit from general anesthesia are children requiring surgical procedures or children with special health care needs. General Anesthesia is a controlled state of unconsciousness that eliminates awareness, movement, and discomfort during dental procedure. A physician or dentist with specialized training can administer a number of medications to provide general anesthesia during dental procedure.
Our doctors will make recommendations for the use of sedative medications or anesthesia based on your child’s dental needs, level of anxiety, and overall health. The risks and benefits of each technique will be discussed on an individual basis as recommendations for treatment are made.
