Sedation Dentistry
by Dr. Sally Kashani, Hollywood’s Premier Dentist

Sedation Dentistry

For the anxious patient, we can provide you with oral conscious sedation. This allows you to be free of fear and anxiety but still be conscious enough to respond. It is safe and effective and also tends to produce some amnesia effects so you will not remember most of your visit. We do require you to have a driver to and from the appointment.

For the extremely anxious patient, a dental anesthesiologist is available to provide a deeper level of sedation in the office, such as IV sedation.

How Sedation Dentistry works

Sedation dentistry is a way to have your teeth worked on so that you are relaxed and won’t remember much of what was done after, but how does it work? The sedative is a little pill taken orally or under the tongue before the procedure. The sedative medication slows the action of the central nervous system, which helps relax the patient. While you maintain awareness of your surroundings, you’ll simply be less responsive to external stimulation, including pain. And it’s a mild sedation so you are always safe. If you are looking for a deeper sedation there is IV sedation available as well.

Patient safety and clinical quality are not sacrificed for sedation dentistry. While the power of sedatives ranges from mild relaxation on one end to total unconsciousness at the other, our goal is to maintain a mild level of sedation in our patients, to where they are comfortable. A moderate sedative will allow patients to stay alert and be able to speak and answer questions, but will make them feel completely relaxed and experience less pain.

If you have some fear of the dentist, we will help ease the anxiety. Studies have shown that approximately one in five people feel somewhat panicked at the thought of having dental work performed on their teeth. In fact, it may even be beneficial to those with busy schedules, who choose to receive several necessary treatments at once rather than one at a time.