General types of sedation in Anaesthetics used in dentistry

Types of sedation

If you need to be sedated during treatment, there are six different types of sedation your dentist can use.

• Local anaesthesia. This is an injection in the gum and is the ideal method to control pain. To minimise discomfort the dentist will usually rub numbing cream into your gum before giving you the injection.
• Relative analgesia (gas and air). This involves breathing a mixture of oxygen and nitrous oxide though a special nosepiece, which leaves you feeling relaxed and floaty. It has a rapid recovery time and you can drive and return to work the same day.
• Intravenous sedation. This technique involves a sedative drug being given directly into a vein in your arm or hand. You will be able to talk, but the sedation is quite deep and you may not remember much about the treatment. Your breathing, pulse and blood pressure are measured during treatment and you'll need someone to take you home and stay with you for the rest of the day. 
• Intranasal sedation. This involves squirting a concentrated form of a sedative drug up your nose. This may be used for people who are afraid of needles, or those who have special needs, where it’s combined with intravenous sedation for deeper sedation.
• Oral sedation. This involves drinking a sedative drug. As with intranasal sedation, more drugs can be given intravenously to produce deeper sedation. 
• General anaesthesia. Very few people require general anaesthesia and it's usually reserved for people who are unable to cooperate with dental care because of their disabilities or people who require a great deal of dental work and are also dental phobic. It can only be done at a hospital.

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