Ensuring Your Child’s Comfort With Sedation

Posted January 18, 2021

Often, kids may feel anxious about visiting the office or undergoing treatment. In addition, others could have special needs that make receiving treatment difficult. Fortunately, to help ensure every patient feels calm and relaxed when they undergo treatment, your Dallas, TX, pediatric dentist offers sedation dentistry.

When We Prescribe Sedation

As we touched on above, dental sedation helps children with anxiety or special needs undergo treatment comfortably, and also helps ensure the comfort of those receiving more advanced treatment options. We offer three unique options, and the one we recommend will be based on your child’s medical history and anxiety levels. During the procedure, one of our anesthesiologists will be present, and each is a board-certified specialist and a member of the Pediatric Dental Anesthesia Associates (PDAA).

Possible Options for Your Child

Now, let’s look at the three options we provide for our young patients.

Nitrous Oxide:

The most common is known as nitrous oxide, or laughing gas. Essentially, we administer the gas through a mask over the nose. Once your child breathes it in, he or she will enter a relaxed and conscious state. There will be little to no memory of the procedure afterward, and the effects wear off quickly. In fact, your kids may even be able to return to schedule afterward should you have a morning appointment.

Oral Sedation:

In some cases, for various reason a child may need a deeper level of calm, so we could prescribe oral sedation. Several hours before the procedure begins, your little one will take a pill. By the time treatment begins, he or she will enter a very deep state of calm, but will still be conscious and able to respond to the dentist if needed. The effects won’t wear off right away, so your little one could be groggy for a bit.

IV:

For the deepest level of calm, we could administer a calming agent through an IV. The entire process will be handled and monitored by a trained anesthesiologist. Again, the effectives will take time to wear off completely so your child may be a little groggy.

If you have any questions about these options, or if you would like to schedule a consultation or checkup visit for your child, then please contact our team today.

Do You Have Questions About Dental Sedation?

We want to make sure kids with anxiety or special needs can obtain the care they need with multiple calming options. To learn more about our approach to helping children enjoy their time in the office,  by calling Pediatric Dental Care at Casa Linda in Dallas, TX today at 214-321-4880. We proudly serve patients who live around Casa Linda and all surrounding Dallas communities.