Young children often develop tooth pain from infections or injuries and occasionally need treatments under sedation. There are many reasons why your child benefits from sedation. For example, some dental processes require your child to lie still without moving because the dentist might have to perform intensive therapies and doesn’t want to scare your child with the dental drill noise.
Dentists aim to provide safe and pain-free treatment to everyone, including children. However, young children are often uncooperative in dental practices because they don’t know what to expect. Therefore dentists provide dental sedation to help them calm their anxiety and permit the dentist to perform more work in one appointment.
The kind of sedation your child needs depends on the procedure scheduled and not on the sedatives. Dentists usually provide highly anxious children nitrous oxide to help calm their nerves, even during minor procedures like exams and cleanings. However, all dental treatments are different; some cause more discomfort than others. Therefore when you take your child to the dentist in Katy, TX, with the problem affecting them, the dental professional selects the most appropriate kind of sedation after considering the necessary procedure.
What Kinds of Treatments Requires Sedation Dentistry in Children?
Sedation dentistry helps calm children and adults needing minor or significant dental treatments. Sedation dentistry aims to alleviate the patient’s anxiety without making them unconscious. For example, sedation dentistry becomes essential if your child needs a tooth pulled by a pediatric dentist near you. Similarly, intensive procedures like root canals also allow children to benefit from sedation dentistry because the dentist suggests oral conscious sedation in liquid form for the child to have an hour before the appointment.
Overly anxious children uncooperative during dental visits, even for routine exams and cleanings, generally receive nitrous oxide or laughing gas that helps calm them within minutes and dissipates soon after the dentist removes the mask over their nose and provides pure oxygen to breathe.
Sedation dentistry doesn’t eliminate the need to provide local anesthesia near the affected teeth and gums, depending on the treatment your child needs. For example, while dental cleanings don’t require local anesthesia, your child may receive it if they need a deep cleaning to remove excessive tartar buildup on their teeth to cause problems like gum disease.
Therefore when you discuss your child’s dental issue with the Katy dentist, they will determine which option of sedation dentistry in Katy best suits your child’s specific procedural needs and recommend the same for them.
Are There Any Side Effects of Sedation Dentistry on Kids?
Generally, sedation dentistry has no side effects in children and adults. However, if your child receives a prescription for oral medications to have an hour before their appointment, they might become disoriented and drowsy when driving to the dentist’s office to receive their scheduled treatment. The drugs suggested by dentists include tranquilizers, antidepressants, antianxiety medications, et cetera that make your child tired before they reach the dental office.
Dental sedation for children helps dentists complete more work in one appointment, even during significant procedures. Your child remains awake in the dentist’s chair, responsive to queries after they receive local anesthesia in the mouth for pain relief.
After providing the treatment needed by your child, you can return home with them soon after unless the dentist suggests you wait for them to recover from the drugs. Although your child will continue appearing tired and exhausted, you can rest assured sedation dentistry does not cause any side effects that last for longer than 24 hours.
The local anesthesia injected in the mouth requires 4 to 6 hours to wear off, making it essential to care for your child and prevent them from eating or drinking hot beverages. The precautionary measure is to avoid injuries to their mouth’s soft tissues and to burn their throat.
Children are better encouraged to rest after their dental treatment and refrain from engaging in activities until they have recovered from the sedation. Some children heal faster, while others need more time. However, the sedation provided by the dentist will dissipate in a maximum of 24 hours without leaving behind any recollection of the dental treatment or the sedation children received. Most importantly, sedation dentistry is safe and is decided by the dentist treating your child after considering the treatment needed, your child’s general health, and dental anxiety level.
Charm Dental Katy suggests sedation dentistry for children anxious about dental procedures. The sedation recommended is considered after looking into the treatment your child needs. Therefore if your child needs intensive dental procedures, kindly consult this practice and have them receive the treatment under dental sedation.
