Your dental appointment is coming up and if you are like most people, the thought that you will be having a procedure done in your mouth is terrifying. It is easy to understand why – the Sacramento, CA dentist will be using sharp and whirring instruments, injecting your gums with needles, pulling teeth, cutting in your gums and so on. The good news is that you can take oral sedation pills to make yourself feel calm. Oral sedation can come in the form of a pill or as liquid medicine. There are two kinds of oral sedatives that you can use. You can take sedative hypnotics which as the name suggests, put you in an almost hypnotic state. You also feel sleepy and you will not be aware of what is happening around you. The other form is anti-anxiety relievers which help you reduce your anxiety levels.
These drugs are perfectly safe if you take them in the recommended doses. Most dentists will recommend that you take sedative hypnotics because not only do they reduce anxiety levels, they also help one not to remember what happened during your procedure. Don’t confuse oral sedation for anesthesia – they are two completely different things. Oral sedation only helps you calm your mind and get rid of anxiety before your procedure. Anesthesia, on the other hand, is all about dealing with the pain. Most good Sacramento, CA dentists have their own anesthesiologist in their practice. Their job is to administer anesthesia and monitor the patients for the duration of the procedure. The dentist, on the other hand, will monitor all your vital signs to make sure that you are not responding properly to the oral sedation that you are under.
How does oral sedation work?
It is all very simple. If you have an upcoming dental procedure you should ask your dentist to prescribe an oral sedative. On the day of the procedure itself you will take the pills as prescribed a few hours in advance. You need to have a friend or family member to drive you to and from the dentist. Once you get there employees from the practice help get you in the building and you are taken straight to the dental chair. The dentist will attach the necessary equipment to monitor vital signs such as hearty rare and blood pressure. They may help you feel even more relaxed by playing some relaxing music or even getting you to watch a relaxing movie on video glasses. You will be given tinted glasses to keep the bright light from shining in your eyes.
The anesthesiologist then injects you with anesthesia to make the area where the procedure will be done numb after which the dentist proceeds to get it done. Once he is finished your friend or relative will drive you home where you take a nap. When you wake up you will feel fully refreshed and you will not have any memory of the procedure. You should take the antibiotics and painkillers that you were prescribed by the dentist as recommended.
How safe is it to take oral sedation?
Oral sedation is safe so long as you follow directions. That said, you are not supposed to drive for at least 24 hours after you take a dose. If you have a chronic illness for which you take medication you should discuss it with your dentist before you take oral sedation – some drugs react when mixed together. If you have a heart or liver condition, for instance, you should not take certain oral sedation medications. These drugs are also not safe for people who suffer mental disorders such as bipolar, depression and even psychosis.
Can you vary your dosage?
This is a common question – people worry that because they are large they might not feel relaxed if they take the recommended dosage. Unfortunately, this is not true. Oral sedation medications work on the brain rather than the body so varying the dosage will not help you much. It is also interesting to note that your state of mind determines whether or not they work. If, for instance, you take a pill but are worried that you will lose control, there is a good chance that you will not feel the effect of the pill at all.
To conclude, you can easily take the edge off before a dental procedure by using oral sedation, but you must discuss it with your doctor if you are on other medication, have a chronic illness or have a mental disorder.