If you’re needle phobic, inhalation sedation or gas and air can be a really great option to undertake dental treatment as an adult.
What is inhalation sedation firstly? So a lot of people will be aware of gas and air or nitrous oxide, and it’s in widespread use across mainstream medicine today.
You are able to undertake treatment and nitrous oxide in private dental practices as well as the NHS here in the UK.
How Inhalation Sedation works
The nitrous oxide works by taking effect on the central nervous system to enhance what’s called the GABA neurotransmitter and it slows down brain activity that’s responsible for a lot of the stress response that we experience.
Nitrous oxide can also help with releasing endorphins to help us feel more at ease and more relaxed during treatment.
How is it different to other forms of sedation?
One of the big differences of inhalation sedation as a patient is that it’ll be a lot lighter in terms of sedative effects.
So you will be fully conscious, you’ll be aware, and you might also experience some of the sensations of treatment and remember it as well.
Gas & Air might not be deep enough for some who have extreme levels of dental phobia, but it can help take the edge off and slowly rebuild confidence.
A big benefit of nitrous oxide inhalation sedation is that you are able to drive after having had it, so you don’t need a chaperone, which can make the logistics of dental treatment easy for some.
It can also be used in situations where there is potentially higher BMI and where IV sedation is not deemed as medically appropriate.
Combining Inhalation Sedation with other treatments
Inhalation sedation is more accessible to a larger portion of the population. It can be more cost effective too.
And so one of the things to consider is how it can be combined with other forms of treatment to help you overcome dental anxiety and phobia. For example you might want to undertake a series of hypnotherapy sessions and those to be practiced within the treatment to increase the relaxing effects of nitrous oxide.
You can also use nitrous oxide to begin a deeper appointment using IV sedation if you have needle phobia as it can help with overcoming the insertion of the cannula.
This should be something discussed with your and perhaps advised in where appointments of more comprehensive or complex treatment is involved.
