Deep sleep – anxiety-free dental treatment in a dream takes away the fear of the dentist
Why a dental treatment in deep sleep? A total of 15% of the German population is classified as dental phobic. A total of 40% of children even have dental phobia. This fear of the dentist can become a major problem if the necessary treatments are not perceived as a consequence.
Against this background, it is not surprising that dentists are regarded as pioneers of modern anaesthesiology. Artificial deep sleep offers patients the possibility of anxiety-free dental treatment.
Dentist Dr Seidel General anaesthesia Sedation
What is artificial deep sleep at the dentist’s?
Deep sleep is a specific form of sedation, analgesia, which is often used by dentists. In contrast to local anaesthesia, this not only eliminates pain but also initiates a deep state of rest.
This can be graduated depending on what is appropriate for the treatment. The dentist in particular may be dependent on the cooperation of the patient. Therefore, it may make sense for the patient to remain responsive during sedation and to be able to react, for example by moving the tongue.
How does it work?
The deep sleep treatment is always performed by a specially trained dental surgeon under supervision of the cardiovascular functions. You will be given painkillers (analgesics) and sleeping pills or sedatives via a previously applied vein access.
During the dental treatment, they are then responsive and breathe independently, but are in an artificial light sleep.
Deep sleep sedation also plays an important role during a visit to the dentist for children, as the relaxed and sleepy situation prevents or reduces unwanted fear reactions and thus puts less strain on the cardiovascular system. In order to safely eliminate the pain, local anaesthesia is performed under local anaesthesia in addition to deep sleep sedation.
In addition to sedation with Midazolam, Ketanest can be used to deepen or prolong the deep sleep treatment for several hours.
What are the advantages of deep sleep compared to anaesthesia?
The anaesthesia is much more complex and therefore more cost-intensive than a treatment in deep sleep at the dentist. For your safety, an anaesthetist must be present during a general anaesthesia to initiate and monitor the procedure.
This involves considerable costs, which in most cases have to be borne by the patient himself. In addition, the patient has to appear on an empty stomach for treatment under anaesthesia and undergo a preliminary examination.
Deep sleep treatment, on the other hand, is easier to implement and requires less effort on the part of the dentist. It can take place immediately on an outpatient basis, the patient does not have to be sober for analgesic treatment and time-consuming preliminary examinations are unnecessary. A specially trained dental surgeon can set the sedation himself, for which only one medication is necessary. In addition, you are less exposed to risks.
More relaxed for the patient and easier for the dentist – Conscious Sedation
A further disadvantage of anaesthesia is that the patient is no longer responsive and cannot react accordingly. Particularly in dental procedures, the cooperation of e.g. anxiety patients is an important factor. Thus, even under sedation, the patient should be able to give information about the degree of spread of the local anaesthetic, to keep the mouth open and to react, e.g. by moving the head. These special requirements have led to the development of the CONSCIOUS SEDATION concept in our specialised dental practice, which can best be described as a concept of sedation with simultaneous maintenance of responsiveness and cooperativeness.
Read more about this topic here:
- How to overcome your fear of the dentist
Advantages over local anaesthesia?
Even if all pain in the mouth area is eliminated by local anesthesia during a dental operation, the patient still experiences the treatment. Especially in the head area the feeling of movement can be perceived as very unpleasant even without pain. If the resulting stress becomes too overwhelming, the treatment may have to be discontinued because the circulatory system and nerves can no longer participate in the worst case. Experience has shown that even the pain process is more protracted in the aftermath than in patients who did not notice the treatment during deep sleep at the dentist.
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- Sedativa Ketamin is used by the dentist
When is this form of sedation recommended?
We recommend a deep sleep:
- adult anxiety patients, when other methods of coping with anxiety have failed, and invasive dental procedures in children.
- about sensitive adult patients
- dental treatments or dental surgery procedures that exceed the usual time
- or if you just don’t want to hear about the treatment.
Who’s doing the sedation?
Sedation is always carried out by a specially trained dentist. For this purpose, there are detailed recommendations and internationally established standards of the relevant specialist societies regarding the procedure for the treatment of anxiety patients and elective interventions in children. Finally, the complexity and importance of this subject area is taken into account by the fact that in Great Britain, for example, there is extensive training as a “dental sedationist”, a specialist in the sense of specialising in dentistry.
In Germany, the training of intravenous analgosedation is part of the training catalogue for specialist dental training in oral surgery.
Who pays for the deep sleep treatment?
As a rule, the costs for deep sleep sedation at the dentist are to be borne by the insured person himself. A few private health insurances will cover them in part, please contact your health insurance company for more information.
Can I also have a treatment in deep sleep at the dentist emergency service?
Yes, of course, if the dentist is trained for this, it is not a problem. Especially the treatment of inflammations (abscess or ulcerated root) should not be done exclusively under local anaesthesia.
Would you like to learn more about the possibilities of deep sleep for stress-free dental treatment in the dental practice?
Call us now and make an appointment for a free and non-binding consultation: 033203/85200
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Dr. Frank Seidel
Last update of this page 10.10.2019 by author Dr. Frank Seidel.