Trying to persuade a young child to visit a dentist when they are absolutely terrified is no fun at all. We know that isn’t the case for most young kids visiting our dental practice as we have gone out of our way to design it to be appealing and entertaining for children, with plenty of toys to keep them occupied in the waiting room and we have child oriented dental surgeries with gentle use of oral sedation dentistry.
While we have done our best to ensure that Eco Dental , we do understand that some children have quite deep-seated fears and phobias, especially if they may have had a bad experience at another dentist.
Our Pediatric Dentists in Brooklyn Are Extremely Gentle
The good news is that if you can get your child to come and see us then we have lots of great pediatric dentists in NY who is extremely gentle with children who are nervous and scared. You’ll find our dentists are excellent at helping to make young children feel comfortable, relaxed and able to receive treatment.
However if your child is unable to relax then it can be very difficult to give them the treatment they need and this may also be the case for a young child who has a very strong gag reflex (pharyngeal reflex). Under these circumstances we may suggest using sedation dentistry.
How Oral Sedation Helps
We have different levels of sedation dentistry that can help a child relax. These range from very mild sedatives that include nitrous oxide, better known as laughing gas, to oral sedation that can produce a deeper feeling of relaxation.
Unless your kid requires a lot of dental treatment, we would be unlikely to administer a general anesthetic as sedation dentistry usually focuses getting a child to feel calm and relaxed but they will still be aware of their surroundings.
Laughing Gas – Child Dentistry
Laughing gas or nitrous oxide is the mildest form of sedation that we can give. Laughing gas is a mix of nitrous oxide with oxygen and all your kid will need to do is to breathe it in through a small child sized mask. It takes effect within a very short while but during treatment your kid will still be awake and will be fully able to communicate with our dental team.
Once treatment is complete and the gas is turned off, the effects will wear off within a few minutes. It’s a very good treatment with few side effects.
Oral Sedation Dentistry
Oral sedation can be given in the form of a liquid or tablet and it needs around half an hour to take effect. Once it does, your child may become sleepy depending on the strength of the sedative administered. Afterwards it’s likely your child will have little recollection about their appointment.
We do take every precaution to keep our small patients safe during oral sedation dentistry and they are closely monitored at all times. Oral sedation dentistry can be a great way for a child to get more accustomed to visiting a pediatric dentist and we hope in time that they will feel far more relaxed during checkups.
