3 Common Types of Dental Surgery and How Dental Sedation Helps

Some dental problems require you to undergo surgery like removing a severely decayed tooth. While these procedures are common and safe, they can cause you to feel anxious. Dentists in Mesa offer dental sedation to help ease this anxiety. Here are a few common kinds of dental surgery and the types of sedation that help you relax.

Types of Dental Surgery

Root Canal

Root canal procedures remove infected pulp from inside your tooth and prevent more infections from occurring. This type of surgery allows you to keep damaged or decaying teeth rather than pulling them. You might need a root canal if you crack a tooth or experience problems with a tooth filling or severe cavities. Signs that you need this procedure include serious pain when you bite down, high sensitivity to heat and cold, or advanced decay.

During a root canal, dentists clear out pulp, disinfect the affected area, and fill it before sealing your tooth. Root canals might cause some soreness, but they usually don’t lead to serious discomfort.

Tooth Extraction

Tooth extractions are common dental procedures. You might need a tooth pulled or extracted if it can’t be saved with a root canal. Dentists also perform tooth extractions on impacted wisdom teeth or to reduce overcrowding that can’t be treated with aligners.

Simple tooth extractions are a minor procedure, while surgical extractions typically require dentists to make incisions in the gums to reach the affected teeth. For example, you might need a surgical extraction to remove wisdom teeth that are stuck below the gum line.

Dental Implants

Dental implant surgery involves having a titanium post placed in your jaw. As your jaw heals over the next several weeks, it fuses to the post and holds it securely in position. Your jaw needs to fully heal from this type of surgery before you can have a connecting piece and replacement tooth attached.

Surgery for dental implants might also involve a bone graft if you lack the right amount of jawbone to support these posts. To qualify for dental implant surgery, you need to be a good candidate with no health issues that could affect the healing process.

Types of Dental Sedation

Nitrous Oxide

Nitrous oxide offers sedation that can help you feel more comfortable during a dental procedure. This type of sedation does not put you to sleep. Instead, you might experience a feeling of light-headedness or a tingling sensation in your legs or arms. While you are under nitrous oxide sedation, you can still hear your dentist and even answer any questions that come up. This kind of sedation involves keeping a mask over your nose and breathing in a mixture of oxygen and a sedative. You can expect the effects of this sedation to fade shortly after you stop using the mask.

Oral Sedative

Oral sedation involves the use of medication to ease anxiety and promote a feeling of relaxation. In some cases, sedatives may cause drowsiness and cause you to forget what happens during your surgery. In other cases, sedatives this does not happen. Instead, these medications relieve anxiety and keep you alert yet relaxed during your procedure.

You must have someone with you to take you home and stay with you if you take an oral sedative that causes drowsiness. Keep in mind that you might not be considered a good candidate for oral sedation if you have certain conditions, such as kidney problems or respiratory disease.

IV Sedative

IV sedation involves receiving a sedative intravenously through a needle placed in your vein. This type of dental sedation lowers your awareness of your surroundings without putting you fully to sleep. While you are under this sedation, you might feel drowsy or groggy, so you’ll need to have someone with you to drive you home afterwards. IV sedation allows dentists to adjust the amount of sedative you’re taking in case it does not have the desired effect.

You will be able to respond to requests during this sedation, but it is unlikely that you will remember anything.

Conclusion

Have an upcoming dental surgery? Concerned that you’re too anxious to sit through even a basic cleaning? If you need more information on dental sedation in Phoenix, please contact us today. We help make dental procedures less scary and more comfortable for our patients.