Does the very thought of a dental procedure make your palms sweat? Do you get anxious when you think of visiting the dentist? You are not alone, in fact a significant percentage of people around the world experience dental fear.
What if you could sleep through your entire dental treatment and not experience any pain, well guess what you can at Sydney Dental Aesthetics and Implants (SDAI) with sleep dentistry!
What is Sleep Dentistry or Intravenous (IV) Dental Sedation?
Sleep dentistry otherwise known as IV Sedation or twilight sedation refers to the use of pharmacological agents administered intravenously to calm and relax a patient prior to and during a dental appointment.
Your expert sedationist – Dr Melissa Licenblat
Dr. Melissa Licenblat is a Principal dentist at Sydney Dental Aesthetics & Implants in Martin Place, and has also attained a Graduate Diploma in Clinical Dentistry (Conscious Sedation and Pain Control) and is now primarily a practicing Sedationist.
Dr Melissa Licenblats warm and caring nature complimented by her extensive experience and skill will give you the peace of mind and reassurance that you seek and deserve.
In addition to SDAI’s own patients, Dr. Melissa is also highly sought after at other dental practices in Sydney, Wollongong, Goulburn and the Central Coast where she performs Sedations for the dental community.
Where is sleep dentistry conducted?
For the convenience of our patients we are delighted to be able to offer sleep dentistry or sedation dentistry in our own practice and administered by our own expert sedationist, Dr Melissa Licenblat.
No need to go to hospital, we can look after everything for you at SDAI.
Benefits of Sleep Dentistry
There are several key advantages to managing pain and anxiety through sleep dentistry including:
- Enables you to have treatment done in comfort with reduced anxiety
- You can undergo treatments in the comfort of our dental practice
- It’s possible to have multiple treatments done in a single session, saving time and money
- Treatments seem to take a shorter amount of time, and patients have little or no memory of the procedure
Common Procedures
The most common procedures performed under sleep dentistry are:
- Wisdom teeth Removal
- Tooth extractions
- All on 4
- Dental Implants
However, any dental procedure can be performed.
What to Expect
On the day of your dental sedation, monitors are set up to assess Blood Pressure, Oxygen Saturation, Pulse Rate and an ECG is placed to monitor the heart both before and during the dental procedure. Once fitness for IV sedation has been established, an intravenous line is set-up. Sedative and pain relieving drugs are administered via this IV line and instant relaxation is felt within a few minutes allowing the dentist to initiate the dental procedure needed. Local anesthetic is only administered once sedation is underway so there is no awareness of any needles orthe procedure.
Preparing for Sleep Dentistry / Dental sedation
Prior to the dental sedation appointment, fasting from food and liquids for at least 6 hours is mandatory. Usual medications may be taken with a small amount of water however this should be discussed with Dr Melissa Licenblat beforehand. A responsible adult who will also escort the patient home must accompany the patient. Loose, comfortable clothing is recommended to allow the blood pressure cuff and ECG nodes to be placed.
The recovery period is the time after the dental procedure and dental sedation has ended. During this time there is constant monitoring of the vital signs and the patient may still feel relaxed and ‘sleepy’. The amount of time in recovery depends on the individual patient and can take between 15-45 minutes. Only when the dental sedationist feels the patient is alert and steady enough to walk on their own will discharge of the patient be allowed.
Discharge is only allowed if a responsible adult is present to escort the patient home and travel is only allowed in a private vehicle (no public transport or taxis). Once home, we recommend a light meal and relaxation (usually sleep) or sitting down. An adult must be present to care for the patient at home for a period of 24 hours after the intravenous dental sedation. Within this time, the patient must not drive or operate any machinery.
Below are a simplified version of these pre and post – sedation instructions. Filling out the Dental Sedation Medical Questionnaire electronically will allow Dr Melissa Licenblat to assess your medical history prior to your appointment and discuss it with you if there are any issues.
Sydney’s sleep dentistry angel
Meet Dr Melissa Licenblat our dental sedationist, to learn more about Dr Licenblat please visit her profile page to learn of her education and experience.
Would you like more information about Sleep Dentistry?
Please get in contact and we will call you to discuss your questions and needs, we look forward to hearing from you.