About Sedation
Sedation dentistry at SF Dental House in Mission District of San Francisco involves using medications to help the dental patients relax during their dental procedures. Sedation is often called sleep dentistry, though this terminology isn’t 100% accurate as patients are usually awake during such procedures with the exception of those who have to be put under general anesthesia.
Sedation Dentistry at SF Dental House is practiced on four levels:
- Minimal sedation where a patient is relaxed and awake.
- Moderate sedation is where a patient is half awake and half asleep and doesn’t remember much of the procedure.
- Deep sedation is when the patient is on the edge of consciousness but can be awakened easily.
- General Anesthesia when the patient is completely unconscious.
At SF Dental House in Mission District of San Francisco, the following types of sedation techniques are used;
- Inhaled minimal sedation where a patient breathes in laughing gas mixed with oxygen through a mask placed over the nose. This combined gas helps the patients relax. Our Mission District dentist is responsible for controlling how much of the laughing gas the patient receives, and it wears off shortly after it is administered.
- Oral sedation ranges from minimum to moderate levels. It is administered to the patient approximately an hour before the dental procedure. Under moderate sedation, a much larger dose may be given.
- Deep sedation and general anesthesia is where a patient receives medication that renders him or her unconscious during the procedure. The patient cannot be easily awakened under this sedation method until its effects wear off.
