Intravenous Conscious
Sedation (aka “IV sedation”) is when a drug, usually of the
anti-anxiety variety, is administered into the blood system during
dental treatment.
What does it feel like? Will I be asleep?
A lot of dental offices and practices use terms such as “sleep
dentistry” or “twilight sleep” when talking about IV sedation. This is
confusing, because it suggests that IV sedation involves being put to
sleep. These terms are more descriptive of deep sedation. Deep sedation
isn’t commonly used (in the U.K. at least), and is classified as general anesthesia (even though sedation occurs on a continuum).
In reality, you remain conscious during conscious IV sedation. You
will also be able to understand and respond to requests from your
dentist.
However, you may not remember much (or anything at all) about what went on because of two things:
- IV sedation induces a state of deep relaxation and a feeling of not being bothered by what’s going on
- the drugs used for IV sedation produce either partial or full memory
loss (amnesia) for the period of time when the drug first kicks in
until it wears off. As a result, time will appear to pass very quickly
and you will not recall much of what happened. Many people remember
nothing at all. So it may, indeed, appear as if you were “asleep” during
the procedure.
Read the full article at DentalFearCenteral.org
Highland Dental
3253 North Windsong Drive
Prescott Valley, AZ 86314
Telephone: (928) 775-7433