Put Your Mind at Ease with Sedation Dentistry

If you are avoiding the dentist for any reason at all, you are putting your health at risk. The health of your teeth and gums directly affects the health of the rest of your body. Many of the ailments that begin in your mouth are fairly simple to treat, as long as they are discovered early enough. Failure to treat dental problems can turn minor problems into big ones.

At Westwood Dental Smiles, right here in LA, we offer top notch dental services that will keep you looking and feeling great. Don’t let fear, anxiety, or inconvenience stop you from getting the dental care that you because if you do, you could have more problems later.

Tooth Decay – Cavities are one of the most common dental problems that can occur. In most cases, minor tooth decay can be treated with a simple filling, but if the decay is allowed to worsen, it will require a more invasive treatment. It could even end with the loss of your tooth.

However, if tooth decay continues to go untreated it can spread to other teeth and even become infected. Infection not only threatens the health of your teeth, it can spread to your gums, causing abscesses. If the infection get bad enough, it can cause a fever, which is bad news for your whole body.

Gum Disease – Gum disease is another common oral health issue, and it is often difficult to recognize the symptoms without regular dental visits. It is not uncommon for patients experiencing gum disease to feel no pain, even notice anything going on with their gums.

Gum disease, like tooth decay, is caused by bacteria, and if the bacteria is not treated, the gum disease will worsen until the symptoms become serious. Pockets of infection can form, and your gums will recede from your teeth, sometimes to the point that your roots are exposed.

Happy Smile – Your appearance has a great effect on the way you feel. A healthy and beautiful smile instills confidence, and helps with interpersonal communication. If you are hiding your smile because you are unhappy with the way your teeth look, then you may be coming across as disengaged and uninterested. This is not the message you want to send in social situations, personal or professional.

Westwood Dental Smiles provides a variety of cosmetic dentistry services, like teeth whitening and veneers, can make you happy with your smile, but you have to come into our office to find out what procedure is best for your needs.

So, don’t let fear of pain or any other dental anxiety keep you away because we offer sedation dentistry that will make your experience in our LA office pain free.

Reasons for Sedation

If you are one of the many who experience mild or severe dental anxiety, sedation dentistry will ease your mind and help you put your fears to rest, but even if you are not particularly afraid or anxious about dental visits, you may still benefit from sedation dentistry.

No More Dental Anxiety – The reason most people are afraid of the dentist is that they associate dental work with pain. That is the most obvious benefit to sedation dentistry, dealing with pain, but it’s not just about pain. Sedation will also calm your nerves, so that you can relax throughout the procedure.

Relieve Tension – If you are unable to relax while receiving dental care, you may experience some negative effects not directly related to the procedure. Even something as simple as a teeth cleaning can be uncomfortable if you are tense. When muscles in your neck and shoulder constrict, you could end up with a headache that could last into the next day. General muscle soreness and exhaustion could also result from tension.

Sedation will allow you relax during your dental work, so you can avoid these unnecessary complications.

Multiple Procedures – Dental sedation also makes dental work more convenient. While under sedation, you will be able to sit still longer for more involved procedures that would normally require multiple visits to our office. Depending on the level of sedation you experience, you will have little to no recollection of the procedure. This will allow you to get the work you need done without having to schedule several visits, which can be very inconvenient.

Types of Sedation

When you visit our office in LA, you will have various options for different levels of sedation to fit your needs.

Inhaled Sedation – Nitrous oxide, or “laughing gas”, is a low level form of sedation that is designed to relax your nerves and calm your mind. We will control the level of nitrous that you will receive, so that you will remain fairly alert and generally aware of your procedure, but you won’t become tense or anxious.

Oral Sedation – For a higher level of sedation, a prescription sedative pill may be in order. This will be taken roughly an hour before your procedure and will put you into a state of deep relaxation. Under oral sedation you will remain conscious but may only be vague aware of your surroundings, and will likely have little memory of the procedure, which makes this type of sedation ideal for those with moderate dental anxiety.

IV Sedation – If you have severe dental anxiety, or must receive several procedures, then IV sedation is for you. Westwood Dental Smiles has receive special training and certification for this type of sedation. Delivered through an IV, the sedatives will put you completely under. You will not be conscious during the procedure, and you will have no memory of it.

Make an Appointment

Don’t wait any longer. Call today and find out what dental sedation can do for you.