Here at Margolian Dentistry, we work hard to create a warm, welcoming and low-stress environment for our patients. Everybody is treated with respect and compassion, but despite this, dental anxiety in Ajax is common.

If You Have Dental Anxiety, You Are Not Alone

An estimated sixty percent of people experience some form of dental stress or anxiety, ranging from the quite mild to more deep-seated. Around sixteen percent of people fail to see a dentist regularly because of dental fears. Without regular preventive dental care, untreated dental problems are a huge concern, and nearly a third of adults aged between twenty and forty-four have untreated tooth decay.

Whether you have mild dental anxiety or more deep-seated fears, we can help you. At our dental office in Oshawa, we can provide several sedation options, each of which is customized to best suit your needs. With these solutions, dental treatment doesn’t need to feel scary, and it certainly shouldn’t be painful. If treatment is likely to cause pain, local anesthetic blocks these sensations and can be used with other forms of sedation dentistry.

Nitrous Oxide

Nitrous oxide is often called by its more familiar name, laughing gas, and it’s a form of dental sedation that is very effective and quick. With laughing gas, you inhale the gas through a small mask fitted over your nose. The amount of gas given is monitored during your treatment and is adjusted as necessary. Once the dentist has finished treating you, we remove the mask, and the effects of the laughing gas soon wear off and, you can even drive home.

Oral Conscious Sedation

Sometimes laughing gas isn’t enough, which is when oral conscious sedation is another possibility. As the name suggests, you are still conscious during treatment but are much more relaxed. With oral conscious sedation, our Whitby dentist prescribes an oral sedative that you take about an hour before your appointment. By the time you receive treatment, it will have taken full effect, and you will feel very relaxed and comfortable. Sometimes oral conscious sedation is used with laughing gas to help you feel even more calm and comfortable. During your treatment, you are continually monitored to ensure you are safe and relaxed. You will need someone with you to take you home afterwards.

Intravenous Conscious Sedation

Intravenous or IV conscious sedation is perfect for people with more deep-seated dental fears. It’s also useful if you require a lengthier or more complex appointment and may mean our dentist can complete more treatment during a single appointment. You receive the sedative intravenously, helping you to relax deeply. You may fall asleep, but we can still easily awaken you if we need to ask you questions, and you can still communicate with us if you want to take a break for any reason. Because this is a deeper level of sedation, someone must take you home and stay with you until the anesthesia has worn off entirely.

Ensuring You Are Safe During Treatment

It is extremely important to us that all treatments provided here at Margolian Dentistry are as safe as possible. We review every person wishing to have sedation dentistry very carefully and will want to discuss your medical history in some depth. We must make sure you do not have any health conditions and are not taking any medications that could affect treatment. Our experienced dental team will monitor your vital signs during your treatment. Afterwards, we will keep you with us until we are sure you are sufficiently recovered to go home safely.