Relieve Anxiety with Sedation Dentistry in Leesburg, VA

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Various Dental Sedation Options for Your Comfort

Patients often avoid the dentist due to stress and anxiety. While missing one appointment may not seem like a big deal, continuing to miss appointments can add up and lead to serious oral health issues. This is particularly the case if serious conditions have already begun to develop.

For those patients who are anxious or stressed about visiting the dentist and who need support, we offer sedation dentistry at Lansdowne Dental Care. Sedation dentistry helps to eliminate anxiety and reduce pain during procedures.

Dr. Nguyen is happily committed to ensuring your complete ease and contentment during a dental appointment. He will happily offer this option for you if you experience any one of the issues listed below:

  • Previous traumatic dental experience
  • Fear of needles and drills
  • Strong gag reflex
  • Aversion to dental sounds and smells
  • Resistance to anesthetics

More Information on Sedation Dentistry

Sedation is almost always used when a patient is in need of any sort of surgical procedure to ensure no pain is felt during the appointment. The patients who are involved in a complicated dental treatment can skip the local anesthetic and jump straight to the sedation if they feel anxious about the procedure. This option is especially recommended for patients who are jittery during procedures or continuously ask the dentist for a break during appointments. While we understand these breaks are needed for the comfort of the patient, we can recommend sedation dentistry so that the procedures that would normally take multiple visits can be done in one appointment!

Patients who live stressful lifestyles may not have the time to visit the dentist multiple times to complete one procedure; sedation dentistry allows the dentist to complete the procedure in one visit. The best part? You, as the patient, will be able to receive extreme dental care all while being “asleep.”

Before sedation can be applied to any patient, each patient must provide a full medical history. A list of all medications the person may be taking at the time. This is to ensure the medications do not interfere with the sedation, or perhaps the sedation may cancel out the effects of the medication. Your overall total health, along with your comfort, is our #1 goal at Lansdowne Dental Care.

When Dental Sedation is Performed

If the dentist and the patient have both agreed on performing the dental appointment under a sedative, the dentist will insist the patient bring a friend or family member to drive them home after the appointment. The reason for this is to ensure the patient does not get behind the wheel after a sedation dental procedure, as the sedation may not wear off for another few hours, completely. If you bring a family member or friend along, this person can ensure you get home safely without driving under the influence.

2 Forms of Sedation Available

Dr. Nguyen at Lansdowne Dental Care provides a Nitrous Oxide, otherwise known as laughing gas, and oral sedation for our more anxious patients. Nitrous Oxide is taken by inhaling the sedation through a mask right before the treatment is performed. The laughing gas can help a patient feel completely relaxed and leave the patient in a generally “happy” mood during the dental visit. These patients aren’t necessarily “kicked out” during the procedure, but rather have the absence of any anxieties present. It may sometimes cause the patient to be sleepy as well.

Under oral sedation, patients are given an oral sedative prior to their procedure, putting them into a drowsy, sleepy state. The oral sedation is taken an hour or so before the procedure, as it may take some time to kick in fully. Again, it is important to ensure the patient arranges for transportation after the appointment.

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Benefits of Sedation Dentistry

As mentioned above, sedation dentistry gives an advantage to patients who have extreme stress or anxiety when it comes to their dental appointments. Patients become much more comfortable undergoing longer dental appointments as they won’t have to deal with the anxiety. This allows your overall oral health to improve as the dentist can complete the tasks perfectly and in a timely manner for you!

Another great benefit of sedation dentistry is allowing the dentist to cut the appointment much shorter. The dentist will be given full freedom to work quickly and more efficiently, knowing the patient cannot feel pain.

Sedation For Children

As there are two forms of sedation dentistry, children are typically recommended to take the Nitrous Oxide route. This is a good way to control the amount of sedation given, according to the age, height, and weight of the child. Some children also hold major anxieties towards dentists (which may have been passed from their parents subconsciously). Some children even have a tough time sitting still on the dental chair as they are interested in the dental office and will want to explore, rather than stay sitting in a chair. These children may benefit from the laughing gas as it can put them in a drowsy state while the dentist does his job.

Since Nitrous Oxide provides patients with a sedation that allows them to stay awake, children and adults alike can remain calm and relaxed and can respond to the dentist if they do feel any sort of pain. Safely administering sedation is important to us at Lansdowne Dental Care. We have a team of highly experienced professionals who have years of experience in this area of dentistry. It is a safe and effective way to go about a dental appointment without pain or anxiety. We will ensure you are as comfortable as possible and will receive the proper dental care you need.

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Meet Dr. Tracey Nguyen

Dr. Tracey Nguyen received her Doctor of Dental Surgery, Magna cum laude, at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical College of Virginia. Dr. Nguyen is trained in all phases of implant dentistry, and has received extensive training in cosmetic dentistry. She is also a manuscript/review editor for the Academy of General Dentistry.

More About Dr. Nguyen

We are located in Leesburg, VA but proudly serve Lansdowne, Reston, Broadlands, Ashburn, Sterling, and all neighboring communities.