We understand that for many dentally anxious/terrified patients, the only way that they will be able to cope with dental treatment in the first instance is with some form of sedation.

The practice currently uses two forms of sedation:-

Oral sedation

Patients are prescribed a sedative drug to take approximately one hour prior to their appointment. The aim of this is to reduce the patient’s level of anxiety, although the patient is still aware of the procedure. This is best suited to patients who feel that they can cope with being aware of the treatment and just need something to help calm them down on the day.

Intravenous sedation

Here a sedative agent is gently administered through a small injection in the back of the hand or the arm, and takes a couple of minutes to take effect (if you are worried about the injection, an anaesthetic gel can be used first). This makes the patient very pleasantly sleepy, and they are unaware of the procedure. This is sometimes referred to as Conscious Sedation, as the patient is not “unconscious” and will respond to instructions from the dentist, but will have no recollection of the procedure afterwards. This is a much more potent type of sedation, and is very suitable for highly anxious patients.

Calum and his team have carried out approximately 3,300 intravenous sedations to date.

In time, we would like to be able to offer a third option, and are currently looking into:-

RA Sedation

RA (Relative Analgesia) Sedation involves what many patients would commonly regard as “gas”. However, the gas used is a mix of nitrous oxide and oxygen, creating a safe, comfortable, euphoric feeling without nausea. It is similar to entonox that some patients may have experienced in other aspects of their healthcare.

All three of the above sedation options are extremely safe in the care of trained and experienced staff.