IV Sedation Dentistry Greenwood

IV Sedation (Intravenous)

This is where the sedative medications are injected directly into your blood stream.

The medicine takes effect almost instantly. We can also measure or titrate the medicine to reach the effective dose quickly and safely. If the medicine is wearing off, we can administer a variety of medicines through the IV line to help ease the sedation. This is not possible with giving someone pills. Furthermore, we can administer reversal agents to counteract any medicines, if need be. This is very important from a safety standpoint.

The benefit of intravenous (IV) sedation is that the level of medication can be adjusted during your procedure to ensure maximum comfort. Dr. Walton will administer medication directly into your blood stream (unlike pills), ensuring that the drugs work quickly and effectively. You may sleep through much of the procedure, but you will be able to be awakened easily and will remain in a state of relaxation. It is very likely that you will not remember much of your procedure afterwards. You will be completely relaxed and comfortable, since IV sedation eliminates both anxiety and pain. Dr. Walton can accomplish more extensive treatment when patients receive this type of sedation because it relaxes the jaw and facial muscles. For this reason, it is also a good option for patients with a sensitive gag reflex.

Oral Sedation

This would typically be pills taken prior to your procedure. These pills are in the family of medicine called benzodiazepines. Examples would include valium, xanax and halcion.

Pros: Relatively safe, and fairly easy to administer. You typically don’t want to drive after taking these. For many people, they work well for minor procedures. Relatively cheap to administer.

Cons: However, with more in depth procedures or even longer procedures, the pills have some limitations. One of the biggest limitations of the pills is that the pills get metabolized or broken down in your stomach and liver, which not only takes a longer time to take effect, but more importantly, only leaves only part of the active ingredient left to work on your brain for the sedative effect. So for some people, they may require more pills. The problem is, it is hard to measure or titrate just how much the effective dose will with the pills, and it can become unsafe at a certain point, or just not even effective.

Oral sedation refers to a group of pill-form sedatives called benzodiazepines that can have mild or moderate sedative effect depending on the dosage. Dr. Walton selects the appropriate medication, and you simply take a pill prior to your procedure. You will feel very relaxed and drowsy and may fall asleep, but are easily awakened. You will more than likely have a limited memory of the procedure, and effects of the medication may last for a few hours.

Nitrous Oxide

Safe and easy to administer. It’s out of your system immediately and you can drive after using it. Works very well for mild anxiety to take the edge off. It has a very long safety record. Relatively cheap to administer. Also called laughing gas, this type of sedation is a mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen. This mild sedative has been used for many years in dental offices and hospitals and is appropriate for all ages of patients, from the very young to the elderly. It is administered from a canister by a tube and a small mask. You will feel relaxed, but remain alert. Once the inhalation of the gas stops, the anesthetic effects end quickly.