IV Sedation Toronto

Toronto Smile Centre

IV Sedation For Dental Procedures

Making Patients Comfortable During Complex Treatments

To calm anxious patients and help those with dental phobias, Toronto Smile Centre offers IV sedation with our dental treatments. In addition to providing anxiety relief, however, we also offer sedation for all patients during complex or long procedures, such as surgery for dental implants, to make the experience more positive. IV sedation can also help reduce your gag reflex, and can increase pain threshold levels to further help. IV sedation dentistry offers a very deep relaxation, for a more sedated experience compared to nitrous oxide (laughing gas).

Although you remain awake, time passes quickly and you might not remember your dental procedure, but you'll be able to follow your dentist's instructions. With IV sedation, you will feel very drowsy, and may fall asleep. It helps you stay still, so your dentist can complete work faster and more effectively.

Sedation Dentistry

What Is IV Sedation Dentistry?

IV sedation is a method of sedation dentistry where the sedative is given to you intravenously during a dental procedure. Dental sedation is also sometimes referred to as sleep dentistry, although it isn't like general anesthesia that makes you unconscious. IV sedation offers the greatest sedation used in dental procedures, making it a good choice to lessen anxiety for those with severe phobias.

It is excellent in other situations, as well, to help patients stay relaxed and comfortable for complex or long procedures. It helps reduce a gag reflex, and make dental procedures possible for some patients with conditions like restless leg syndrome. IV sedation also helps with pain management in dental procedures, for a secondary benefit. By helping keep a patient calm and still, but able to cooperate, the dentist or oral surgeon is able to work faster and focus on the work, for better results.

A patient is monitored fully for safety. Your heart rate, oxygen levels, and blood pressure is checked throughout, and your dosage can be adjusted as necessary to increase or lighten the sedation. Because of the deeper sedation, many patients prefer using this method compared to oral sedation or nitrous oxide (laughing gas).

What to Expect When Undergoing Sedation Dentistry

Using IV Dental Sedation

Dental Care with Sedation Options to Help Patients with Dental Anxiety and All Patients Have a Positive Dental Treatment

At an initial consultation, your medical history will be reviewed. Let us know if you are on any medications or treatments. We can then determine if IV sedation is right for you, or if there are other options that may be better.

You won't be able to eat or drink anything for a minimum of six hours before your dental procedure. However, take all routine medications, unless your dentist has advised you not to. You will be given a full set of instructions to help you prepare for your procedure and sedation.

You will have the sedative administered through a needle, so the medication enters your bloodstream directly. With this form of conscious sedation, you will not be very aware of what is happening, with little to no memory of the dental procedure, and you may fall asleep.

Since this is a deep form of sedation, there is some recovery time involved. It takes about 24 hours to recover and for lingering minor side effects to disappear. For this period of time, you will be unable to drive, so you will need to have a family member drive you home after your procedure. Unless you are unable to because of the procedure you had completed, you will be able to eat and drink after the numbing from the local anesthesia is gone. You should start with liquids first. You will be given instructions specific to your procedure for aftercare.

IV sedation is considered a safe procedure with a low risk of a serious complication. Your vitals will be monitored for safety. Lingering drowsiness, slight nausea, dry mouth, and a headache is normal afterwards, but these symptoms should be gone by the next day and should not be severe. Contact your dentist immediately if you have severe nausea, pain, or fever, or pain.

Please let the team at Toronto Smile Centre know if you have any questions about IV sedation dentistry or other conscious sedation options, and let us know if you are interested in being sedated for any procedure where it is not commonly offered. While we will suggest or recommend sedation dentistry for complex treatments, we can offer it for basic procedures, as well, for our patients with dental anxiety.

Sedation For Your Dental Procedure

Toronto Smile Centre

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