Dealing with anxious pedo patients is a widely recognised common experience which dentists come across each & everyday of their practice. Anxiety often leads to apprehension which does not let kids cope well when it comes to the dental treatment. Management of such anxious kids in dental office is quite challenging.
Visiting a dentist let your child break out in a cold sweat?
Then possibly you want to consider a method called “conscious sedation” used by dentists to calm anxious children.
Conscious sedation as the name implies is an altered state of consciousness that minimizes anxiety & pain via use of pain relievers & sedatives in order to promote favourable treatment outcome. The level of sedation is such that it permits the continuation of airway & allows patient to communicate appropriately to physical & verbal command during the treatment.
Under conscious sedation, the patient will not have memories of the experience & thus this avoids any associated anxious or bad feelings with being at the dentist. This leads to a safe & calm atmosphere for patient as well as for the dentist.
The main objective of conscious sedation is to control patient’s behaviour to allow the completion of procedure without any interruption.
Types of sedation in dentistry
There are different forms of sedation practiced in dentistry to control individual’s pain & anxiety.
Nitrous oxide/laughing gas sedation: is one of the safest, effective & most frequently used sedative treatments. 30% Nitrous oxide along with 70% oxygen is administered via small mask placed over the patient’s nose. Throughout the dental procedure patient remains conscious & respond more positively to the dentist’s physical & verbal commands.
Effect of nitrous oxide is mild & quickly eliminated from the body. Once the procedure is completed patient is allowed to breathe 100% oxygen for 5-6 minutes in order to flush out the remaining nitrous oxide from the body.
Oral sedation: is achieved with the administration of sedative drugs taken orally prior to the treatment.
Intravenous sedation: involves delivery of drug into the vein.
Prior to the appointment
- Parents must restrict solid food & drink before the treatment, as sedation possesses the likelihood of vomiting out the stomach content.
- It’s important to inform your dentist of any change in your child’s medical/health condition like: fever, ear infection, cold & cough etc.
- Let your dentist know about the child’s respiratory condition which leads to difficulty in breathing through nose as this may limit the efficacy of nitrous oxide & oxygen.
- Also your dentist must be informed of your child’s drug history.
Post appointment
- Your kid will be drowsy & need to be monitored closely.
- In case your kid wants to sleep, let them sleep on their side with their chin up. In order to prevent dehydration wake your child every hour & make them to drink something. It’s better to make your child sip clear liquids to prevent nausea. Also, first meal should be light & easily digestible.
- Since we use local anesthesia to numb your kid’s mouth. Please observe & make sure your child does not bite his/her lips, tongue, cheeks etc.
- If your kid vomits, help him/her bend over & turn their head to the side in order to be certain that they do not inhale the vomit into their lungs.
If anxiety or dental phobia is preventing your child from seeking dental care, contact Dr. Sachdeva’s Dental Institute.
At Dr. Sachdeva’s Dental Institute, we believe in providing our patient with the most comfortable treatment possible. We carefully plan & carry out conscious sedation in order to give your child a positive experience rather than a bad memory. Whatever the procedure is, our primary consideration is patient’s well being.
