Joseph DuRoss, D.D.S.

This is very different from deep sedation or general anesthesia. Conscious sedation is a moderate sedation. It is a minimally depressed level of consciousness whereby the patient maintains their own airway and reflexes, and responds to physical and verbal stimuli. An even lighter form of sedation is available where the individual is awake but has decreased anxiety to facilitate coping skills, retaining interaction abilities. Research tells us that almost 30% of our population avoids going to the dentist due to fear. And many more come to the dentist but they are very anxious and it is not a pleasant experience. Sometimes this fear and or anxiety comes from past dental experiences and other times it was created nondentally from experiences when you were a child or infant. The fear is very real and is often uncontrolable. In the past one way to treat this kind of patient was to have it done in the hospital under general anesthesia. This takes alot of time and is very expensive. Today in our office we have a very safe solution called conscious sedation. This is done by swallowing a pill the night before treatment and then when in the dental office a crushed up pill is placed under your tongue where it is absorbed. Our goal is not to put the patient asleep. It is to create the most relaxed comfortable appointment possible while the patient remains awake and conscious. However, many sedated patients feel like they slept through the entire appointment since they have little or no memory of the appointment. If you are interested in this type of dentistry it is important to meet the dentist and his staff to find out what your needs are before any work is done. This is important because if you need alot of dental work it can be arranged to get much of that done with only one or two sedation appointments. This will save you alot of time and money. Contact us and come in to meet our very nice staff where we will treat you with the utmost courtesy and respect. We can be reached at (562) 424-8537. Today is a good time to get that long needed dentistry done and get on the road to good health. Schedule your free consultation today!