At Bruce Matson, DDS, we can perform dental work on patients that are struggling with dental anxiety. If you avoid the dentist due to fear of what a procedure may be like or simply do not enjoy dental work, give us a call. In our Houston, dental office, we can ensure that you are comfortable and relaxed, regardless of the dental procedure. When you visit our office, we will meet with you to discuss what treatments you need and create a plan for how to keep your mouth healthy while easing any fears that you have about dentistry in general. We will keep you informed about the entire process so that you can make decisions regarding dental care without experiencing any anxiety.
When you visit our dental office, we can discuss ways that you can prevent experiencing anxiety while receiving dental care. Give us a call to go over any and all methods for dealing with dental anxiety that we can offer. In some cases, all a patient needs to do is play music on headphones during the appointment. In other cases, we may need medication or another method to deal with dental anxiety.
Another easy way to calm your fears is to visit our Houston dental office and meet with Dr. Matson prior to the actual appointment. Taking the time to tour our office, where you can sit in the dentist chair and have a conversation, will allow you to become familiar with our staff and office environment. After this meeting, when you do have your teeth cleaned, you are doing so in an atmosphere that you feel comfortable in with friendly and familiar faces. During your consultation, we can also discuss what you can expect from a teeth cleaning or a specific procedure. This will help you to mentally prepare for how long it will take, what dental tools we will use, what you may feel during the process and what the recovery period will be, if any. At Bruce Matson, DDS, we find that the more informed our patients are the more comfortable and relaxed they feel. This one appointment can help to alleviate the fear of dentists that you are experiencing.
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In our Houston dental office, we practice sedation dentistry that can be used to reduce and prevent dental anxiety. Here are some of the questions we are regularly answer about sedation dentistry.
Typically not. Sleep dentistry is usually reserved for oral surgery and lengthy procedures. Sedation dentistry will help you relax and can make you drowsy, so some patients do nod off. However, with our sedation methods, you are still in control of your body and are technically not put to sleep.
To determine if you are healthy enough for sedation (most people are), we recommend that you schedule an appointment with our Texas dental office. We will meet with you to discuss the type of sedation that will be best for your procedure and the level of dental anxiety that you are experiencing.
The most common form of sedation is taking a pill an hour before the procedure begins. One pill can help you to feel entirely relaxed and eliminate your fear of dentists. Most procedures, like teeth cleaning or fixing a simple cavity, do not necessarily hurt. With sedation, many people do not require additional medication. However, if you would like pain medication as well, we can give it to you after the sedation has taken effect.
Yes, with sedation dentistry you can continue to engage in conversation and respond to commands; but your response times may be slightly delayed and your mind not as clear as normal. This is why we recommend that you either have someone drive you home or wait until it has worn off completely before driving home after the appointment.
Most of the time, the sedation goes away within an hour of your procedure being complete. If you are more heavily sedated or put to sleep for oral surgery, it can take a couple of hours to feel normal but this is rare. In our Houston dental office, we use the least amount of sedation to help you to feel completely relaxed and comfortable. Thus, it is effective without staying in your system for too long.
Yes, children may need sedation when going through large amounts of dental work so that they can hold still long enough for a dentist to complete the dental work. This is a unique specialty and not offered at every dentist office.
To learn more about sedation dentistry, new dental technology or how to reduce your dental anxiety, call and schedule an appointment with our Houston dentist office today.
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