IV Sedation to Overcome Dental Fear

It’s easy to tell when you are suffering from dental phobia—you have a severe fear of going to the dentist. Dental phobia affects both children and adults. It is, however, especially common with people who suffer from other psychological or anxiety disorders. In fact, research suggests that about 20% of people who have dental phobia also suffer from other mental issues such as generalized anxiety disorder.

Still, dental phobia should be differentiated from dental anxiety and dental fear as they vary in degree of severity. Dental anxiety is a reaction to an unknown danger. Everyone experiences anxiety every now and then, although for some, it occurs more frequently. Dental fear, on the other hand, involves the activation of fear as a fight-or-flight response when confronted with the threatening stimulus.

If you are looking to overcome your fear of being in the dentist chair, ask the dental practitioner for advice on available options. IV sedation is one such option, for example. Sometimes referred to as twilight sleep, sedation dentistry puts a patient in a state of relaxation deep enough so that he or she will not be aware of the procedure. Depending on how complex the procedure is, the patient may be put under either mild or heavy sedation.

With the care of a sedation dentist, people suffering from dental fear, phobia, or anxiety can just relax and enjoy their brand new smiles when they wake up from a procedure.