Wednesday, December 2, 2009

IV sedation versus oral sedation

Intravenous Sedation (IV) sedation in a dental office has an anesthesiologist come in and put an IV into the blood stream for sedating a young child so the dentistry can be accomplished. It is very effective and has the advantage of wearing off quickly once the IV is out and the child is taken to a much deeper state of unconsciousness safely. It is also a lot more costly as you are paying for 2 doctors in the room.

Oral sedation does not put the child in such a deep state of sedation, so the extra doctor to administer and monitor the drugs is unnecessary. It effectively sedates the uncooperative child, allowing work to be accomplished without undue stress or negative memories. Since the drug is not delivered directly into the blood stream, it takes longer to wear off completely, leaving a sometimes irritable, slightly off balance child the rest of the afternoon, but it can save as much as 2000 dollars over IV sedation, accomplishing the same objectives.

Many pediatric dentists these days only offer IV sedation, which in these economic times can put a difficult burden on families. This is one of the reasons we choose to offer oral sedation as an alternative to IV sedation.

The following is what one parent who was quoted for IV sedation at a different office had to say about her experience:

"My son had his first experience with cavities, and needed to have multiple teeth filled. Dr. Gary and his staff presented us with two options for anesthesia, and we are thankful we went with the oral sedation instead of I.V. sedation, as this was not the most economical option for us, but the entire process was painless, which as parents, was our main concern. Thank you for providing options for parents, and for cultivating a peaceful, kid-friendly environment where my children can learn how to keep their teeth and mouth healthy. You all are a blessing."
-Susan J.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

tooth2tooth.blogspot.com; You saved my day again.

Dr. Gary Myers said...

How did we save your day? always like to hear how we are helping!

Joel said...

Just to share my Mom's experience with IV sedation.

My Mom was very afraid to have her oral check up because of her childhood dental-phobia. The sad thing is, she needs to be orally healthy in order to avoid some major diseases like diabetes and some heart problem. We're so lucky that we live in Chicago. Sedation dentist explained to us the benefits of IV sedation. He also asked my Mom what caused her phobia and we learned that her childhood dental procedures kept on flashing in her mind that makes her feel what she felt during those times. We were grateful to learn that IV sedation does not just make the procedure pain free but it also make the patient forget the whole process.

Dr. Gary Myers said...

Just so anyone reading knows, the above post appears to be a spam generated by "sedation" general dentists who market heavily to dental phobic patients (often unethically), and get them to come in for thousands of dollars of work and then hope to never see them again with "lower value" procedures like cleanings and maintaining their teeth and preventing future problems. Very few dentist doing sedations are in this category, but most that are heavily advertising themselves as "sedation dentists" fall in this category.

Just beware!

Dr. Gary

wiltonwinrow said...

good post!

dental surgery sedation said...

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austin cosmetic dentistry said...

Thank you for posting this article. Now we have a better idea of what IV sedation and oral sedation is. Keep posting!

Ronald Swanson said...

As a child and even now as an adult I have such a bad gag reflex that dentists have to go to extreme measures to work on my teeth. In order to get my x-rays done while at the dentist they would have to sedate me so I didn't throw a huge fit, and so that I wouldn't throw up all over the dentist. The problem with having to sedate my so much was that it was pretty expensive, as you stated, especially with IV sedation. Thankfully I'm better at dealing with my gag reflexes so I don't have to be sedated every time.
Sedation Dentist

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Unknown said...

I know that many are afraid of the dentists. I am too. When I was a child I rarely go to dentist. It should be that way. We need dental care to avoid damage of our teeth.
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mine az said...

Pleased to know about this oral sedation. Last week met to popular dentist Redondo Beach. Went to his clinic with my friend. She had visited there for her dental checkup. Really liked his work and services too. Will be going to him for my dental problems too.