If you’re an executive who couldn’t spend a whole day in the dentist’s office for a complex dental procedure, you’re not alone in your dilemma. Having your tooth problem solved is just as important as the next business conference. Dealing with tooth problems during a business meeting is the last thing you want to be bothered with. Complex dental procedures especially those requiring more than two visits can be finished in one appointment. It is possible with today’s dental innovations. Sleep dentistry gives you a better option to have an extended dental treatment done in half or whole day.
What is sleep dentistry?
Sleep dentistry is a dental procedure that will put the patient in deep sleep by administering general anesthesia or intravenous (IV) sedation. The patient will not feel any pain, unaware of what’s happening around him and will not remember the procedure. Dentistry utilizing anesthesia or sedation is a safe way to reduce the fatigue of extended dental treatment requiring long visits.
There are two methods of administering sleep dentistry: one is intravenous (IV) sedation and the other is general anesthesia. With IV sedation, the anesthesiologist administers varying amounts of sedative medication through an intravenous line. IV is fast acting and can be controlled by increasing or decreasing the medication depending on the patient’s needs. General anesthesia, on the other hand, produces a state of complete sleep different from one would normally experience because it blocks all memories and inhibit normal body reflexes to pain making the dental procedure easier to perform. The effects last for several hours after the treatment is complete. The patient will remain in the clinic until he is completely awake.
So, the next time you find yourself needing a complex dental procedure in the middle of a hectic schedule at work, you can choose to have a sleep dentistry procedure to complete the treatment with fewer visits to the dentist’s office.
