Dental Anxiety Is Real
If you’re tense or anxious every time you have a dental appointment, you should tell your dentist about it immediately. It is important to let your dentist know about your situation so that the appropriate treatment plan can be carried out to address your needs. Nowadays, there are new technologies in dentistry that help reduce anxiety levels and also make every visit comfortable.
The source of dental anxiety varies in each individual. It could stem from painful dental procedures in the past, existing behavioral or medical problems and fear of pain, in general. There are medications available to make every dental visit as comfortable and pain-free as possible. Further, there are behavior modification methods to put you in a relaxed state. Discussing your concerns with your dentist will ascertain the best solution for your situation.
Dentists adminsiter different kinds of medications and techniques to help relieve anxiety during dental treatment. Here are the various methods utilized by dentists to help alleviate anxiety and pain during dental treatments.
- Analgesics
Analgesics are commonly used to relieve tooth pain after a dental treatment. These include non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs such as Ibuprofen, aspirin and acetaminophen. In cases of severe pain, narcotic analgesics such as codeine are used.
- Local anesthesia
There are two kinds of local anesthesia: topical and injectable. Topical anesthetics are applied on the mouth tissues to reduce pain on the surface level. This is also utilized to prepare the area for injectable local anesthetics.
Injectable local anesthetics are administered to prevent pain in a specific area on the mouth during treatment. It causes temporary numbness in the mouth tissues by blocking the nerves responsible for sensing pain. Injectable anesthetics are generally administered in dental procedures like extraction, dental filling and preparing the teeth for crown replacement.
- Sedation and sleep dentistry
Sedatives such as nitrous oxide act as anti-anxiety agents to put the patient in a more relaxed state during dental visits. Depending on the complexity of the case, these sedatives are administered before, during or after the dental procedure. The patient is put in a relaxed state but able to respond to verbal cues. Some procedures require the administration of anesthesia or deep sedation especially on patients who are suffering from severe anxiety, young children and patients who have medical conditions that limit their movements. Deep sedation induces a loss of consciousness in order to minimize pain and anxiety while general anesthesia causes temporary loss of consciousness.
It is important to understand the risks and your options in treating anxiety and pain during dental procedures. In regards to issues about dental anxiety and fear, your dentist is in the best position to teach you on oral health. Working with your dentist to address these issues early on will ensure that your dental visit and treatments will be safe, painless and comfortable as possible.
Contact our Ft. Lauderdale dentists at sleepdentists.com for more information about reducing and completely eliminating anxiety during dental visits.
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Tags: ft lauderdale dentist, sedation dentistry, Sleep dentistry