When most of our patients hear that we offer a range of sedation options at our Los Angeles dentist office they assume it’s for one specific purpose: patients scared of dental care. While anxious patients tend to be one of the primary groups that benefit from sedation dentistry they’re hardly the only ones!
There are a wide variety of reasons that sedation is an ever-growing option for dental procedures. You might be a great candidate for it and not even realize you could benefit! That’s what we want to cover today in the hopes that we can make your dental care experience all the more comfortable.
Are You An On-The-Go Patient?
Life can get hectic, and who has time to stop in the middle of all of it to take care of dental needs? Many a busy person has been brought down due to the needs for serious dental care, often requiring more than one appointment to complete.
When your dental care needs entail more than a single visit things can start to seem difficult: how do you schedule more than one day off? Do you have the vacation time? What are you going to do with the kids? All these questions can be laid to rest thanks to sedation.
Dental procedures that take more than a single appointment aren’t split up because our arms get tired – it’s because there’s only so much you can take in one sitting! Sedation enables us to get all the work we need to do done in one go – and you can even “sleep” right through it! You won’t have to worry about taking multiple days off, or finding a babysitter more than once – we can do all we need in one short visit.
How High Is Your Gag Reflex?
Having a high gag reflex is perfectly natural, but it’s also a bit embarrassing. There’s nothing like choking right in your hygienist’s face! Don’t worry – we’ve probably seen worse in our days on the job, but that doesn’t get rid of the embarrassment you might be feeling.
A sensitive gag reflex is triggered by overactive nerves and muscles in the back of your mouth, and for some people it can be a serious problem! Around 15 percent of people suffer from a hypersensitive gag reflex, and sedation is a great option to help calm that reflex down.
By relaxing your mind, your nerves, and your muscles we can significantly reduce the chances that your gag reflex acts up in the middle of a cleaning, exam, or other dental procedure. Even the most minor form of sedation, nitrous oxide, can help alleviate your high gag reflex and make your dental care more comfortable.
Are Your Teeth Sensitive To Pain?
Make no mistake – we use anesthesia in all situations that require it. Despite that some patients still have really sensitive teeth, and the possibility of pain that pushes through anesthesia is always in mind. Sedation has helped many sensitive patients avoid pain because of how much it can relax and dull the senses.
Nerves that are normally hypersensitive can be put at ease through any form of sedation – the kind you need is all dependent on your level of sensitivity and what you want.
For Special Needs Patients
We see plenty of patients who don’t completely understand what kind of care they need or what they’re receiving at our office. If you’re responsible for the care of a patient who might not understand what’s going on in the dental chair we want to help!
Patients who need to be relaxed before their procedure can benefit greatly from sedation. In some cases special needs patients can struggle, harming themselves or others, which is an even better reason to make use of sedation – it can help them and you make they experience go more smoothly.
We Can Help Any And All!
These are just a few of the ways that sedation can help. Honestly, if you can think of a reason to use sedation as part of your dental care then it’s probably a perfectly legitimate one! We want to be able to help all the patients who come to our Los Angeles practice for care, and through sedation we can truly make that a possibility.
If you want to find out just what sedation can do for you and your loved ones give us a call today. You can reach Westwood Dental Smiles at 310-208-4084 or you can request an appointment online. We look forward to helping you!
