Sedative Dentistry for Children

Sedation dentistry is a good thing for children to have, but it can be a bit hard to figure out what a child will need. In certain conditions, your dentist my recommend using sedation for treatment, and you may wonder as a parent what the best way to accomplish this is. Well, you’re about to find out, because here, we’ll go over sedation for children, and what you can get.

First, you can get nitrous oxide, which is commonly known as laughing gas. It’s blended with oxygen as well and transmitted through a mask you breathe into. It’s not invasive, and once the child stops breathing, the drug will leave, and they’ll be fine. While it won’t put the child to sleep, it’s wonderful for relaxing.

Mild sedation is the next one. This is usually through orally used drugs, and your child will stay awake, and also respond to the verbal communication, but their movement along with coordination will be affected. Their respiratory and cardiovascular functions won’t be hampered at all, so you don’t need other monitoring equipment. It will make the child incredibly drowsy, and usually they will not be able to be coherent when they talk to you. They’ll be sleepy after the procedure, and oftentimes, this can be reversed easily, and for the most part, nothing is affected.

Finally, you have deep sedation, which is administered through an IV, and the child will be fully asleep. They may move about, making sounds on occasion and sometimes they may respond in a strange way to the pain, but they’re in a deep sleep. The recovery is longer too, and usually children don’t remember what happened. Sometimes the respiratory and cardiovascular system can be affected as well, and oftentimes, you need another person to stick around that’s more qualified for this procedure.  Finally, you’ve got general anesthesia, which is essentially the where your child is completely asleep, and they won’t remember this. However, you need someone well-qualified, and the recovery is a little longer and a child might need help with breathing beforehand.

So, when is this required? Well, you’ll need it whenever the procedure is incredibly painful. Depending on the length and type of procedure, any of the above ones mentioned are appropriate. If the child is anxious upon visiting the dentist, this is really helpful, since it will make everything as smooth as it can be. The sedation levels required are dependent on the anxiety levels in the procedure. For example, if there is mild anxiety, nitrous is great, but otherwise, sometimes you might need a higher level of anesthesia in order to help the child relax. Oftentimes, if there is extreme phobia, a higher level is necessary.

When it comes to sedation and sedative dentistry, you need to look at the options you might have, and what is possible. This will in turn help you with improving the way you handle your dental visits, and any surgeries that are needed too.