Bayshore NY Dentist Treats Hesitation with Sedation

It is estimated that about 10% of the population suffers from some form of anxiety or phobia of visiting the dentist. While at one end of the spectrum these conditions can result in smaller scale issues such as cancelling or missing appointments for no real reason, when it gets more serious, patients can become sick, lose sleep or even suffer panic attacks just thinking about pending visits to the office.

 

Of course, as the direct result of the lack of dental care, these patients usually suffer from some of the more serious oral health problems. Periodontal disease, chronic bad breath and cavities, loss of teeth and more issues that need resolution at the hands of a dentist cannot be properly achieved for these patients…until now.

 

Your Bayshore NY dentist is proud to be on the forefront of relatively new practices involving sedation methods in order to treat the once untreatable, those patients suffering from dental anxiety or phobias.

 

There are various methods of delivering sedation to our patients, as well as levels of “depth” to which one can become sedated by these means. From oral sedatives to intravenous, laughing gas and general anesthesia, onset time and degree of severity will vary. Most of these forms will also require the application of a numbing agent to be applied to the area of work being performed in order for no pain to be felt at all.

 

Patients may go from a “light” sedation all the way to a deeper depth, where they become fairly unaware and unconscious of what is occurring. At these deeper, general anesthesia type levels, breathing assistance is usually required and typically not turned to unless required for oral surgery.

 

While utilizing these methods has proven to be vastly popular and successful in a number of cases, evidence has also shown there are simple means to prevent the phobia or anxiety from developing in the first place. By getting a patient to the dentist at a young age for regular checkups, familiarity and bonds of trust can be established and lessen the chance of worry for the future.

 

Bay Dental Health Center, your Bayshore NY dentist wants you to feel secure and enjoy every time you come into our offices. To discuss sedation dentistry as it relates to dental anxiety further, or to make your own appointment- please call (631) 665-8484 today.