Hi, I’m Dr. Scott Rice, a dentist here in Orange County, and I offer dentistry with sedation as an alternative to my patients who want their dentistry done in the most comfortable way possible.
The first thing I’d like to say to you is that I compliment you on visiting our on-line office. If you’re like many people who dislike, or I should say probably hate having dentistry, the effort you made probably took a lot of courage. You know…we recognize in our practice how tough dentistry can be, especially when you’re on the receiving end of the needle or the drill. We don’t take anything our patients experience for granted. I really want you to know that you’re not alone. At least 50% of the population here in the U.S. don’t go to the dentist except for dental emergencies…a broken tooth or a tooth ache. And, there are countless people who do have those dental emergencies and still don’t go to the dentist. So, right off the bat I acknowledge that you realize your need for dental care, but most likely don’t like the idea of possible pain, shots or even the drilling noise. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could eliminate most or all of those perceptions? Well, the good news is that now we can with sedation dentistry.
When you do come to see us I’m going to make you promise….no lectures. In the past you’ve probably gone to an office or two and when they found out how long it had been since your last dental appointment you got a lecture. You were belittled because they made you feel bad or guilty for going so long without dental care. Well, you won’t get that in our practice. As a matter of fact most people who come to us for sedation dentistry haven’t had dentistry done for at least 5 years, and many even 10-15 years or even longer. So, we recognize that you probably haven’t been to the dentist for quite some time and that it took you a lot of courage to come in to see us….so rest assured, we won’t be giving you any lectures.
First, who is a candidate for sedation dentistry?
-Adults who have high fear
-Those who have had traumatic dental experiences and are afraid of having bad dental experiences again
-People who have difficulty getting numb
-People with very sensitive teeth
-People who are very busy, and need a lot of dentistry, but because of their busy lifestyle want their dentistry to be completed comfortably in one or two appointments
-Sedation dentistry is also good for adults who
-Hate needles and shots
-Hate the noises, smells and tastes associated with dental care
-And people who are afraid & embarrassed about their teeth and want their teeth to look nice…want a nice smile that looks professional and enhances their image.
Now…let me summarize some other facts about sedation dentistry
It works!
It is safe!
You take a small pill prior to your dental treatment. No I.V. needles in your arm.
You will have little or no memory of the experience and you will not remember any sounds or smells.
You snooze for 2-6 hours after taking the pill.
Work requiring 6 to 8 regular dental appointments can usually be done in 1 or 2 visits with sedation dentistry.
People who have difficulty getting numb have no problem when relaxed and sedated.
We do all this with just a pill, which is a safe, non-narcotic medication
This medication we use is prescribed millions of times a year to people as a very, very safe sleeping aid and is being utilized safely in dental offices across the country.
Well, that was the short version of explaining sedation. Now I’ll try to explain it a little more detail.
First, with sedation dentistry you are very…very relaxed. And you will probably dose off and not even know that you’ve been sleeping.
You will be in a very light sleeping state, but not so deep that you can’t be woken up and respond to us or to our questions. You are able to talk and answer us.
You won’t have any pain and none of the dentistry we do will hurt you.
You will lose track of time. As a matter of fact most people wake up from a 3 or 4 hour dental procedure and say something like “wow…that was quick.”
But not lastly, you won’t remember much or anything later on about your appointment!
So how does all this work?
First, before your appointment you will be given a pill. Yes, just a simple blue pill. You will take that pill at home one hour before your scheduled appointment.
Someone will need to drive you to our office that day, and when you arrive you will be relaxed and tired. At that time we will ask you how you’re feeling and if you want to be more sleepy. If it’s your first sedation visit you will most likely want to be a little more sedated, and so if you want we will give you a second dose of the medication at that time. It will be your choice how sleepy to get. If you just want to be relaxed, but not extremely sleepy, we can give you less medication. Again, that will be your choice.
Then you will go to the rest room, and then we will bring you back to our dental treatment room. You will take off your shoes and we will cover you with one or two warm blankets. If you wear glasses, a watch or jewelry those will then be given to your driver to keep for you.
We will then begin to monitor your vital signs….pulse, blood pressure and breathing efficiency with our pulse oximeter…a sophisticated medical instrument that measures those things so that we make sure that you don’t go into a deep sleep. In our office we only want you in a safe, light sedation or light sleeping state.
Then we will numb you before we numb you with a topical anesthetic on a q-tip…. and then when we do numb you, you won’t even know you’re getting numb.
After that, you’ll dose off a bit and we’ll do the dentistry that you have scheduled. Some people can have all their dentistry done in only one appointment. But if you’re having crowns or bridges you will need two visits. You can see that for busy people, getting all their dentistry done in two long appointments with sedation dentistry really beats 6-10 visits over months or even possibly years to have all their dentistry completed. For busy people sedation dentistry is really a Godsend.
When you’re ready to wake up, we’ll call your name, you’ll wake up and we’ll give you some juice, we will sit you up and you’ll wake up even more. Most people wake up pretty easily because remember, we use a light sedation medication, not a deep sedation or general anesthetic.
Most people want to know, “what if I go into a deep sleep and I don’t wake up when you talk to me?” Waking you up won’t be a problem, but if we really had to we have another medication that we can give you that will wake you up almost immediately. I have never had to use that medication, but we have it available to use if absolutely necessary.
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