The Beneficial Role Sedation Plays in Managing Dental Phobia and Anxiety in Children
It is not uncommon for children to fear going to the dentist. Dental visits can prove to be a stressful affair for parents, especially if your child suffers from dental anxiety or phobia.
As hard as it may be for you to believe this, your child could be among the millions of children worldwide who suffer from dental anxiety or phobia.
The next time you are making a dental visit to our pediatric dentist near you, do not feel embarrassed if your child throws a fit during a routine examination or cleaning procedure because this is a perfectly normal response in children.
The understanding dental phobia could help you ensure that your next visit to our pediatric dentist near you will not be a complete nightmare.
What Is Dental Phobia?
This condition can be described as an uncontrollable and irrational fear towards dental procedures or, in other cases, the dentist.
If your child suffers from this condition, getting them to go to our dentist will be a task on its own. Your child may prefer to skip out on the dental visit altogether.
This condition is more severe than dental anxiety because children suffering from dental anxieties can be reassured and talked about undergoing dental procedures.
However, children with dental phobia have an intense fear of any dental procedure; getting them to sit in a dentist’s chair could be difficult.
How Can You Manage Your Child’s Dental Phobia?
Having a dental phobia could negatively impact your child’s oral health. Not being able to stay calm through dental routines such as regular checkups and cleaning means that our dentist may not complete any dental procedure.
This may leave your child at risk of suffering from dental infections and conditions that will affect their overall oral health.
As concerning as this could be to you as a parent, you need not worry because a dental phobia is a condition that can be managed.
Our dentist can help you explore the various techniques that can be used to manage dental phobia to ensure that your child’s oral health will not be compromised. One of our pediatric dentist’s methods to handle this condition is by practicing sedation dentistry.
Role of Sedation Dentistry
Pediatric dental anxiety & sedation dentistry has revolutionized how we deal with dental phobias and anxieties in our patients.
Sedation has allowed us to work on even the most unwilling and anxious children. This ensures that they undergo any necessary dental procedure without stress, fear, or anxiety.
Dental sedation may be necessary to guarantee that your child has a pleasant and pain-free experience while at our dentistry.
The types of sedation used may vary from moderate conscious or oral sedation for dental fear to more complex IV and general anesthesia sedation. The type of sedation used is determined by several factors such as:
- The complexity of the dental procedure being undertaken
- The severity of your child’s dental phobia or anxiety
- If our patient has special needs
- A medical history of reacting to any form of sedation
Benefits of Pediatric Sedation Dentistry
Here are some key benefits of sedation in pediatric patients:
- Managing Dental Phobias
Sedation dentistry allows us to work on our patients who suffer from dental phobia and anxiety. Sedation makes children remain calm and relaxed while undergoing their necessary dental procedures.
Sedation ensures that our patients have a stress-free and less traumatic time while at our dentistry, helping them start dealing with the fact that the dentist’s office is not such a bad place after all.
- Allows Us to Deliver Quality Treatment
Because patients remain calm under sedation, our dentist can complete dental procedures without resistance or interruptions. Squirming children can compromise the ability of the dentist to work efficiently and deliver good dental services.
Sedation enables our dentists to work through the procedure seamlessly and safely.
- Procedures Take Less Time to Complete
Children tend to get restless quite quickly. Putting them under sedation allows our dentist to work uninterrupted and promptly. This ensures that you do not have to make multiple dental visits to complete one dental procedure.
- Allows Us to Work With Special Needs Children
Dental sedation has made it possible for us to conduct necessary and routine dental care on our special needs patients who might not know and understand what is going on or what to expect.
IV Sedation and Its Benefits
If your child has to undergo a complicated dental procedure, they will be put under IV sedation. Here are some of its benefits:
- Dosages can be easily adjusted during the procedure
- The patient is conscious during the procedure
- It’s a fast-acting form of sedation
- More effective than oral or inhalation sedation techniques
- A viable alternative to general anesthesia
At Sunny Smiles Kids, our dental team is trained and certified to execute sedation dentistry. Visit us today and let us make your child’s dental experience a stress-free affair.