In Carlsbad, CA, IV sedation fits seamlessly into holistic dental care
Is the concept of biological dental care new to you? Do you envision aromatherapy, herbs, and acupuncture? While ancient alternative medicine has its place in holistic dentistry, the field is actually a combination of the healthiest aspects of conventional dental techniques, leading-edge technologies, and bio-friendly materials. For Dr. Al A. Fallah in Carlsbad, CA, the goal of treatment is to help each patient achieve the healthiest possible oral state that contributes to physical and emotional wellness. Keep reading to learn how IV sedation is part of that plan.
Why IV sedation makes sense in holistic dental care
Carlsbad, CA is a hot spot for custom car enthusiasts. If a mechanic needed to fix the choke valve to keep a hot rod running at peak performance, he probably wouldn’t try to do it under the hood. He would remove the carburetor from the intake manifold to make necessary repairs, without risking harm to the rest of the engine, before replacing the assembly.
Wouldn’t it be great if dental problems could be tackled the same way? If the dentist could simply take the lower jaw out of your mouth to extract a tooth or repair a cavitation, then put it back – there’d be no physical or emotional trauma. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way with the human machine. Each bodily system has an intimate connection with all others. Holistic dentistry is an approach to oral care that considers the entire wellbeing of the patient – mouth, body, and spirit.
While Dr. Fallah is known for a light hand, just the idea of having dental work causes some patients a great deal of anxiety. Even those who are quite calm in the chair may experience jaw, neck, and back strain from a lengthy procedure. Others have conditions that make it difficult to sit still for the duration of a dental appointment.
Dr. Fallah offers a menu of comfort options to resolve these issues:
NuCalm – This system uses homeopathic supplements, light-blocking eyewear, and headphones with pleasant neuroacoustic sounds to relax anxiety responses in the brain. Its revitalizing effect can last days after your dental appointment.
Alpha-Stim – Relaxing microcurrent technology, painlessly delivered through an ear clip, reduces need for anesthesia (fewer numbing injections).
Oral conscious sedation – Dr. Fallah has offered oral sedation for more than 15 years. This medication in the valium family is taken in pill form before a dental appointment, to help you relax.
Intravenous sedation – This medication is introduced into a vein for a quick and reliable sedative influence.
Call Our Office For More Information call us at (760) 730-1600.
IV sedation – safe and effective
It is important to understand the difference between a pain block, anesthesia, and sedation.
While still commonly referred to as Novocain, other numbing agents are now used more frequently in the dental office. A local anesthetic is injected in or near the problem area of the mouth. Within a few minutes, it blocks pain-sensing chemical receptors on nerve cells. A local anesthetic numbs tissues, but it does not calm anxiety. Numbing is necessary for many procedures, yet for patients with a fear of needles, pain-blocking injections may cause additional nervousness.
General anesthesia is a combination of inhaled gas and intravenous drugs intended to induce a state of complete unconsciousness – essentially a carefully controlled medically-induced coma. While general anesthesia is sometimes used for extensive dental work, it should be administered only by a licensed anesthesiologist who constantly monitors the patient’s condition. Under general anesthesia, you are not able to respond to verbal cues. Intubation is necessary since the drugs paralyze muscles necessary for breathing. It takes some time to recover from “general,” and you have no memory of the procedure.
Intravenous sedation has become a popular choice at Dentistry for San Diego. When Dr. Fallah saw, during advanced training, how beneficial IV sedation was, he became licensed to administer it. Now his patients have this convenience on-site, without the expense of bringing in an anesthesiologist.
This form of sedation induces a deep state of relaxation within about two minutes. The dosage is precisely titrated throughout treatment to maintain this sense of calm, at a level of consciousness where you can still communicate and cooperate, and breathing is not depressed. Drowsiness wears off in an hour or so after the IV is removed, and there is a mild amnesic effect.
IV sedation is just one of the ways Dr. Fallah helps patients be well, in mind, mouth, and body. Call (760) 730-1600 for holistic dental care tailored to your needs.
