If you experience fear and anxiety about visiting the dentist, there is something that can help. The solution to your dental anxiety is gentle dentistry, which offers different methods of sedation to help you relax so you can receive the dental care you need. In Hollywood, FL, gentle dentistry is available at Great Hollywood Smiles, where Dr. David Peretz and Dr. Harvey Peretz can help you maintain healthy teeth and gums without anxiety.
Gentle Dentistry Sedation Methods
Gentle dentistry makes it easy for dentists to deliver compassionate dental care to patients who tend to feel nervous, anxious, or fearful about dental appointments. One of the many ways gentle dentistry puts patients at ease is through the use of various sedation methods. Sedation helps patients relax so they can receive the dental treatment they need to maintain better oral health.
Gentle dentistry sedation methods include:
- Local Anesthetic: The treatment area is numbed to reduce discomfort. Patients remain awake and alert during the appointment.
- Oral Sedation: A sedative, such as Valium or Halcion, is taken orally in the form of a pill. The sedative helps patients relax and feel calm but still remain alert. Although awake during treatment, some patients might not remember every detail of the procedure due to the effects of the sedative.
- Inhaled Conscious Sedation: A combination of nitrous oxide and oxygen is inhaled through a face mask to help patients relax and feel calm while still remaining awake. The effects of this type of sedation tend to wear off quickly once the flow of gas is stopped.
- Intravenous Conscious Sedation: A sedative medication is administered through an IV into the veins. This is the strongest form of sedation and allows patients to sleep through the procedure.
Benefits of Gentle Dentistry
There are many benefits associated with gentle dentistry at our Hollywood, FL, dental practice. We use air-abrasion technology instead of a traditional dental drill for many dental procedures. Air-abrasion technology is much quieter and eliminates the drilling sound that can be so off-putting to many patients with dental anxiety. In addition to a quieter experience, other benefits of our gentle dentistry approach include:
- Reduced anxiety
- Less pain and discomfort
- Fewer appointments
Patients with dental anxiety cannot always tolerate lengthy appointments, especially when more complicated procedures are needed. For that reason, several appointments are sometimes required to complete critical dental work. Sedation puts patients at ease so they can tolerate longer procedures, which means fewer appointments are needed to complete the work.
Gentle dentistry is the solution to your dental anxiety. For gentle dentistry in Hollywood, FL, schedule an appointment with Drs. David or Harvey Peretz by calling Great Hollywood Smiles at (954) 981-4500.