Are you anxious about dental treatment? We understand. We have helped many patients who have come to our Glasgow practice stressed about the state of their dental health but also worried about the prospect of treatment.
You are certainly not alone. We have received many testimonials from patients who were afraid of the dentist before they came to Appletree.
Even a certain international footballer talks about the fear factor and how he is more than comfortable these days in our dentist chair Check out our reviews and testimonials.
As Dr Murphy explains in this short video the first point to make to any nervous patient is there won't be any treatment the first time you come in to see us, not unless you are in pain or specifically ask for something to be done.
We do things at your pace and our staff will go all out to make you feel relaxed and welcome.
Generally speaking a 20 minute consultation will be required to find out what treatment you need. Perhaps if you are very nervous we might think about sedating you for certain types of treatment - for example a difficult wisdom tooth extraction. We are more than happy to do those difficult procedures for you and to make them as comfortable for you as we possibly can, and to make sure you are very numb for any treatments that we do. To make sure we get a good end result and keep you coming back into the practice for your regular checkups and your hygiene visits.
More about dental sedation: We will provide patients with sedation where required. One of our colleagues will come in - usually on a Wednesday. He will give you a small jag on the back of the hand or the arm. He will use a drug that will make you very relaxed, very sleepy. You are still awake so you can cooperate with the treatments but you won’t remember any of the procedures afterwards. Therefore it is an ideal way of treating extremely nervous dental patients who really just need that encouragement to get them through the door.
Sedation can be ideal for patients who are very worried about dental treatment. Particularly if that fear actually puts them off having what may be a desperately-needed treatment.
We can answer all your questions about dental sedation at the practice but here are a few general points about sedation.
First of all, let’s talk about the words we use.
When we inject an anti-anxiety drug such as midazolam or diazepam into your system we refer to the procedure as Intravenous Conscious Sedation, shortened here to IV sedation.
Well, you will feel incredibly relaxed and probably not in the least bothered about what is going on around you.
You probably won’t remember much of what happened because at least some memory loss is another effect of side effect of dental sedation.
You are also likely to feel it is all over very quickly.
The thing is your IV sedation isn’t intended as a painkiller, it is to relax you, so we still need to make the area numb for your dental surgery. However if you’re worried about the numbing procedure we probably won’t do that until the sedation has taken effect.
Yes it is extremely safe when carried out by a specially-trained clinician as happens at Appletree Dental Care.
However, there are various factors we need to to take account and be aware of first. Things such as allergies, pregnancy, mental health and alcohol use. Ask the surgery for more details.
Yes the gag reflex is usually greatly reduced. However there are other ways of helping with a gag reflex without injection. Ask the dentist to explain the options your first appointment.
Full recovery doesn’t happen immediately. That is why we stipulate that you need a responsible adult with you to help you get home safely. Then you need to relax for the rest of the day without doing anything strenuous like driving.
Private dental treatments including cosmetic dentistry treatments in our Glasgow practice can all be carried out under sedation for an additional cost from £500.