Sedation can be useful if:
- You don’t want to be aware of what’s happening during a procedure and you want to be “out of it.” In this case, IV sedation is the method of choice.
- You want a little help to relax – “laughing gas” can give you a pleasant relaxed feeling.
- You have a “gut feeling” that sedation would help you and allow you to get work done which otherwise you wouldn’t be able to tolerate.
- Your fear is procedure-specific (e. g. needles, extractions), especially if you know that the fear would still exist in the presence of an empathetic dentist and adequate pain-control.
- You perceive your fears to be completely irrational and not helped by either an empathetic dentist or psychological techniques.
- You have other mental health problems and you feel you’d benefit from sedation.
- Your primary aim is “to get your teeth fixed” as quickly as possible, for example because you’re very busy or you’ve got an important social event coming up.
- It’s an invasive or unpleasant procedure such as more complex extractions.