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Types of Dental Sedation

Many people suffer an intense, deep fear of having dental work done and they may go to extreme lengths to avoid it. Only the most severe pain of a dental abscess or other emergency will drive them to finally seek care. About 10% to 15% of Americans suffer this type of fear, which has been diagnosed as “Dental Phobia”. For these dental patients, some form of sedation is a blessing which helps them get through most dental procedures.

Dental Sedation Is Beneficial For The Patient Who:

  • Suffers from severe dental phobia
  • Has a high level of anxiety or fear about dental procedures
  • Is a patient with special needs, such as autism, which can make dental treatment quite difficult for both the patient and the dentist
  • Have an uncontrollable or severe gag reflex
  • Have a high tolerance for local anesthetics and “do not get numb”
  • Patients who have adverse reactions to local anesthetics
  • Patients who require extensive dental work and must have it completed within a limited number of visits.
  • Patients with certain medical conditions, such as cerebral palsy, which makes dental procedures difficult, uncomfortable or unsafe.

Patients should be encouraged to let their dentist know their level of fear and anxiety. The first visit is a good time to share this anxiety so an appropriate plan of treatment can be developed. It will take the patient’s fears into consideration as well as the type and amount of dental work that must be done. Adequate sedation must be planned for the patient that may need some lengthy dental procedures.

Types Of Dental Sedation

Oral Sedation
Medication such as Valium, Xanax, or Halcion is given to the patient the night before the appointment with a second dose about one hour before seeing the dentist. This helps relaxation and the patient remains awake and able to follow instructions. A local anesthetic is given so there is no pain at the site for the dental work.

Nitrous Oxide – “Laughing Gas”
This gas reduces anxiety and helps the patient become calm and relaxed. This is most effective when given to patients who have mild anxiety but will be having a relatively short, uncomplicated dental procedure. Gas is administered with a mask and local anesthesia is also used.

Intravenous Conscious Sedation
A medication is injected into a vein to produce a lowered state of consciousness. The patient can not smell, feel, or taste. Because there are different levels of sedation, a local anesthetic may be used in conjunction..  The patient’s blood pressure, pulse and heart rate are monitored as well as respiration rate. The level of oxygen in the patient’s blood is also observed closely. Sedation dentist are specially trained in dental anesthesia.

Deep Intravenous Sedation
This is a state that is between IV Conscious Sedation and Unconscious Dental Sedation. The patient is not able to respond to questions or follow simple instructions. These patients must be monitored closely and the blood pressure, heart and pulse rate are watched closely as well as their respiratory status. Advanced training is required to administer this type of dental anesthesia.

When the dental procedures are completed patients are observed closely until they are fully awake and their vital signs are stable. Dental sedation provides a way for patients with a high level of fear, as well as other problems, to have dental procedures carried out with relative ease.

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Diseases Caused by Smoking – How They Will Affect Your Health

Diseases caused by smoking are many. Studies have been conducted to establish why smoking causes diseases. These studies were able to prove that the ingredients in cigarettes and tobacco products are the culprits. The ingredients can cause cancer and diseases. Some of these ingredients are nicotine, acrolein, tar, nitrosamine, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, radioactive carcinogens, and many more. Below are some diseases caused by smoking.

People who smoke develop lung cancer. And people who don’t smoke can also develop lung cancer. In the United States, 87% of lung cancer cases have been attributed to smoking. People who smoked at some point in their lives have a 1 in 10 chance of developing lung cancer. And it increases to 1 in 6 if they continue smoking. Secondhand smoke increases lung cancer risk by 20 to 30%.

Tar lungs and smoker’s cough are two diseases caused by smoking. Both are attributed to tar in cigarettes and tobacco products. Tar accumulates in the lungs. When accumulation becomes too much for the lungs to remove, tar lungs develops. On the other hand, smoker’s cough develops because coughing is another way for the lungs to remove the tar deposits.

Other diseases caused by smoking include heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, stroke, and atherosclerosis. These are caused by nicotine which leads to constriction of blood vessels. Smokers are 5 times more likely to suffer a heart attack. Secondhand smoking increases heart disease risk by 25 to 30%.

Long term exposure to cyanide and carbon monoxide, which are found in smoke, lead to diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema. Smokers who consume at least 20 cigarettes a day increase their tuberculosis risk by 2 to 4 times.

Infections are also diseases caused by smoking. Some of these are invasive pneumococcal disease, chronic bronchitis, common colds, and other pulmonary and respiratory infections. Other diseases caused by smoking are periodontitis, halitosis or bad breath, leukoplakia, asthma, allergies, chronic bronchitis, and many others.

A fetus exposed to secondhand smoke is likely to be born with low birth weight or small for gestational age. These two smoking diseases predispose the infant to other diseases like jaundice and breathing difficulty. Sudden infant death syndrome is also caused by secondhand smoke. 430 infant deaths in the United States every year has been attributed to this smoking disease. Other diseases caused by smoking in infants are impaired motor skills, cognitive deficits, attention deficit hyperactivity disease, developmental delays, and many others.

These are just some diseases caused by smoking. And all these could lead to death. 2.5 to 10 years is reduced from a smoker’s life expectancy. And each consumed cigarette is equal to losing 11 minutes of your life. Quit smoking now! Choose life!

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Ischemic and Hemorrhagic Stroke

Hopefully you never had to endure a situation of someone close to you to suffer from transient ischemic attach (TIA), also known as mini stoke, or from a stroke. In any case, you should be familiar with both kinds of stroke as they both destroy brain tissue and can produce similar long-term effects. But there are important differences in what causes them and in the symptoms that tell you which kind of stroke is happening.

Ischemic Stroke:

According to statistics, 80 percent of strokes belong to the ischemic stroke kind. These mini-strokes occur when blood flow to the brain is blocked by plaque-clogged arteries or by blood clots. This means that blood is not circulating properly inside the brain causing brain cells to die if even for a few minutes no oxygen is transmitted to them via the blood.

- Symptoms: Sudden numbness or weakness, especially on one side of the body; difficulty speaking or understanding speech; trouble seeing in one or both eyes; dizziness and a sudden loss of balance; falling in and out of consciousness; chest pain and shortness of breath. These last three symptoms are less-brain-centered and are more commonly experienced by women.

Hemorrhagic Stroke:

These brain hemorrhages happen when a blood vessel in the brain bursts, spilling blood into the surrounding tissue. There are various causes of these bursts. The most frequent is the rupture of an aneurysm, a weak spot on the wall of an artery that happens to be in your brain-aneurysms can occur elsewhere in the body, too. Experts point out that women are twice as likely as men to have an aneurysm in the brain and are more likely to have multiple aneurysms than men. Two other causes for bleeding in the brain are: hypertension, which can create enough pressure to break an artery wall, and arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in the brain. This is a snarl of defective blood vessels and capillaries whose thin walls are prone to rupture.

- Symptoms: A sudden violent headache, as if cracking a fault like through the brain’s delicate architecture. The patient may also suffer from blurred vision or nausea.

If you ever suspect you might be having a TIA or stroke or believe you are witnessing someone else having one, make sure 911 (or your local emergency unit) be called immediately. Tell the dispatcher that, if possible, you want to be transported to a hospital with a stroke center. Do not attempt to drive to the emergency room yourself. Stroke patients who arrive at the hospital by ambulance are evaluated sooner by an ER physician, get the necessary testing and are admitted to the hospital or intensive-care unit more frequently than those who arrive by taxi or car. Most importantly, bring someone prepared to advocate for you or the patient. Be prepared by being informed and act fast!

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