22 Mar Is Sedation an Option for Cosmetic Dental Procedures?
In recent years sedation dentistry has grown in popularity for its accessibility and providing a ready solution for fearful or anxious patients. With the success of sedation for common procedures like hygiene, your cosmetic dentist can provide the same relaxing opportunity for patients that wish to enhance their dental appearance.
With sedation dentistry, the patient is given a mild sedative to take at home about one hour prior to their scheduled appointment. It is important to note, patients must have reliable transportation to and from their appointment. Since the patient will remain a little groggy for a few hours following their appointment, it is advised that the patient not return to work or school. It is even best to have someone to stay at home with them for a few hours of recovery time. [pullquote]With the success of sedation for common procedures like hygiene, your cosmetic dentist can provide the same relaxing opportunity for patients that wish to enhance their dental appearance.[/pullquote]
When the patient arrives for their dental appointment, an additional sedative is administered orally. The patient is monitored continually throughout their dental appointment for their safety and comfort.
Now that the patient is totally relaxed, the cosmetic dentist can proceed with the desired treatment:
- Zoom Teeth Whitening – With the ability to lighten teeth up to eight shades during one brief appointment, this procedure is possibly the most economical providing a huge smile makeover impact.
- Porcelain veneers – This process most often takes more than one appointment so the patient might need to undergo sedation twice. Veneers is a minimally invasive cosmetic procedure that provides for very thin tooth colored shells to be permanently cemented to the front of teeth that are stained, discolored, misshapen, worn down, chipped, or contain unwanted gaps.
- Tooth colored dental fillings – For many years, dental decay would be repaired using amalgam. This silver material was functional, but not aesthetically pleasing. However, with composite resin many patients are opting to replace silver fillings or correct dental decay with all-white fillings.
- Porcelain crowns – When a tooth is broken, a dental crown is the perfect option for repair. Most porcelain crowns, like veneers, require two visits.
- Invisalign – A malocclusion can be corrected with a series of clear aligners that your cosmetic dentist will fabricate with the aid of the Invisalign lab to straighten teeth.
Many cosmetic procedures require more than one visit to complete so the question of sedation for all cosmetic enhancements will be discussed with the patient before the onset of treatment.
Consult with our experienced cosmetic dentistry team today for more information on which treatment is best for your smile.