Dental Services That Prevent Discomfort Before It Starts
If you are like many dental patients, you may dread the thought of a visit to the dentist. However, nowadays, a fear of the dentist is often based on inaccurate or outdated information.
Most dental services don't involve pain. Instead, your dentist offers care that helps alleviate or prevent discomfort.
Here are a few services that your dentist provides to prevent discomfort before it starts.
Dental Sealants
Sealants are plastic barriers that are used to protect the chewing surfaces of the teeth from decay. Each sealant is applied in a liquid state and allowed to harden into place. The plastic coatings prevent cavity-causing acids from making contact with your teeth. As a result, you can avoid the pain associated with a deep cavity.
An application of dental sealants involves no discomfort and lasts for years. Your dentist may offer dental sealants during your semi-annual routine appointments.
Sedation Dentistry
For some people, the fear of dentists and dental procedures is so severe that it prevents them from relaxing during their dental visits. Sedation dentistry can help alleviate the psychological discomfort associated with a dental appointment.
The dentist can offer several different types of sedation, including oral and inhaled sedation. For oral sedation, you may be given an oral medication that helps you to feel relaxed throughout your visit. The medicine is usually taken about a half hour before your visit takes place.
Some oral sedatives even cause you to forget the details of your dental procedure, eliminating the chance of a memory adding to your dental fears. If you do use oral sedation, be sure to have someone drive you to and from your appointment.
Inhaled sedation also effectively calms the nerves of dental patients. However, the medication is inhaled during the office visit instead of being administered orally beforehand.
The most common inhaled sedative for dentistry is nitrous oxide, which is commonly called laughing gas. The effects of the gas are short-lived. Thus, they tend to wear off shortly after your visit is complete.
If you are scheduled to have a lengthy dental procedure, sedation dentistry can even help you remain still, reducing the tendency to fidget. With the sedation, you may feel drowsy, but the medicine does not render you unconscious.
If you are interested in learning more about various dental services that prevent pain or discomfort, contact the office of a dentist in your local area, such as Apollo Dental Center, to schedule an appointment.
