Additional Care
Sedation Dentistry
For treatment you would rather not remember — and for the appointments anxiety has made impossible.
What it is
Sedation is not unconsciousness. You stay able to respond, you simply stop minding, and most people remember very little of the appointment afterwards.
We start with what is often enough on its own: longer appointments, topical numbing before every injection, an agreed stop signal, headphones, and a clinician who explains before doing. A large share of anxious patients never need anything pharmacological once the appointment is built that way.
Where it genuinely helps, oral sedation is a tablet taken beforehand, and intravenous sedation is titrated in the chair with your breathing and oxygen monitored throughout. Both need an escort home and a day off driving, and both are discussed with your medical history in front of us before anything is agreed.
Included
What this
involves
Everything below is carried out here, by the clinician who planned it. Anything not on this list is either not needed or will be discussed with you before it is booked.
- Anxiety assessment before anything else
- Topical numbing and an agreed stop signal
- Oral sedation for moderate anxiety
- Intravenous sedation, monitored throughout
- Longer appointments as standard
- Full medical history review
If you have been putting this off for years, you are exactly who we built this practice for.
Common questions
Good To Know
- Will I be unconscious?
- No. Sedation keeps you conscious and able to respond, but relaxed and largely unbothered. Most people recall very little afterwards.
- Do I need someone with me?
- For oral or intravenous sedation, yes — an escort home and no driving, operating machinery or important decisions for the rest of the day.
- Is it safe with my medical conditions?
- That is exactly what the pre-treatment assessment is for. Some conditions and medications rule sedation out, and we would rather find that at the consultation than on the day.
More in this area
Additional Care
Considering sedation dentistry?
Come in for a consultation. We will examine, explain and give you a written plan with a price against every item — then you decide, in your own time.