"Hey, That Hurts!"

Every once in awhile I will come across a visitor to my web site who asks me if I can refer a dentist to them who practices something known as Sedation Dentistry, a.k.a., general anesthesia, which basically is sedating the patient without using local anesthesia. Apparently there are some people who are overly sensitive to the least bit of dental pain (poor bastards) and are even known pass out at the site of a dentist's chair.

Types of Sedation Dentistry
Some of the more popular choices in sedation dentistry available are as follows:

Nitrous Oxide Gas – Often referred to as laughing gas, they use nitrous oxide gas in sedation dentistry to make a patient feel extremely relaxed and less tense. The dentist still administers a local anesthetic during sedation dentistry, as nitrous oxide does not stop pain.

Intravenous – Instead of a pill, during sedation dentistry, the patient receives an injection to make them feel mellow and at ease along with an injection of local anesthetic to stop any pain.

Oral Sedation – For oral sedation dentistry, about an hour before their appointment, a patient takes a tablet that relaxes them and makes them less nervous. Again, because they will still feel pain, the dentist uses a local anesthetic.

Thankfully, all of the dental plans I sell on my web site cover (i.e. give substantial discounts on) sedation dentistry. However, I wish the different plans would tell us which of the dental providers in their network practice this method of general anesthesia.