Odontophobia, or fear of dentists, is one of the most common fears in the world. Because of this, many people tend to avoid dentists as much as possible. As a result, their oral health and hygiene becomes compromised.
To be able to cope with dental anxiety, some dentists offer sedation dentistry. This procedure greatly benefits the patient, as well as the dental professional conducting the procedure. Some of sedation dentistry's advantages are listed below:
1. Visits to the dental clinic do not need to be a frightening experience anymore. With sedation dentistry, a patient's consciousness level will be minimally brought down, allowing a patient to be relaxed while a procedure is being performed.
2. Procedures done by a dentist will be much easier to perform when a patient is sedated. It minimizes patient movement so dental professionals may be able to manipulate the patient's mouth and teeth freely.
3. In comparison to a fully-conscious state, a sedated patient will be more comfortable during a dental procedure. Additionally after all is done, a patient will not be as exhausted, thereby allowing them to go back to their normal routine, and eliminating the need to miss work or class.
4. Patient cooperation is significantly improved when sedation dentistry is employed. This is especially important when the patient undergoing the procedure is a child or is mentally handicapped.
5. Many dental procedures like smile makeovers require several dental appointments. But when a patient opts to be sedated during these procedures, the number of required dental visits can be lessened.
6. Gag reflex during dental procedures is uncomfortable to the patient, and inconvenient to the dentist. In a sedated state, a patient's gag reflex could be lessened to an insignificant level.
7. Most serious dental problems that require drastic procedures are a result of people avoiding dentists, and not getting routine dental checkups and maintenance. Through sedation dentistry, patients will be more encouraged to receive the recommended oral health maintenance.
8. When a patient is sedated, it is highly possible that they may only retain a little or no memory at all of the entire procedure. Moreover, a sedated patient would feel that the procedure only lasted a few minutes, when it fact it lasted for a few hours. This is beneficial because the possibility of trauma will be eliminated.
6. A dentist and his team will have monitoring equipment attached to a sedated patient. Through this, a patient's vital signs will be constantly checked, and subsequent immediate actions may be performed in case something goes wrong.
7. Unlike what most people think, sedation dentistry is surprisingly reasonably priced.
All in all, sedation dentistry has great advantages that will make oral health care an enjoyable experience for a patient. People who would like to have dental procedures performed on them should seriously consider this option.