IV Sedation Dentistry in Bristol

Sedation is a technique whereby a sedative drug is given to help people relax. It is important to note that sedation is different to general anaesthesia. With sedation, you will stay awake but feel drowsy and much less aware of what is happening around you. The sedative drugs will not have the ability to numb the teeth, so a dental injection is still necessary. However, you will be in a much more relaxed state before numbing the of the teeth is carried out.

With some types of sedation (e.g. injection of a sedative drug called midazolam through the vein) patients often don’t remember much of what happened during treatment because of the effect of the sedative drug (most patients don’t seem to mind this at all). The sedative drugs used in dental settings have excellent safety margins, recovery is much quicker with sedation compared to general anaesthesia and our waiting list for sedation is much shorter than the hospital waiting list for general anaesthesia.