Tooronga Family Dentistry in Glen Iris

Sleep dentistry

Feeling Anxious? Dental Phobia? Sleep dentistry may take away the anxiety. Sleep dentistry can be customised to your needs to reduce awareness, anxiety, gagging and fear. Sedation can be used for everything from a simple tooth cleaning to restoring, removing or replacing teeth. Dr Kaufman uses a number of techniques, depending on the severity of the fear, to reliably reduce any chance of awareness during dental procedures and to optimise comfort, safety and recovery. This range from mild dental nitrous oxide sedation to deep sedation that further improves comfort, right through to a full general anaesthetic when indicated.

The differences between the different levels of sleep or sedation dentistry are:

  • Inhalation sedation using nitrous oxide or “happy gas”. You breathe a mixture of nitrous oxide combined with oxygen through a mask that’s placed over your nose. Dr. Kaufman can alter the concentration of gas to control the level of sedation you receive. Once discontinued the gas tends to wear off quickly. This is the only form of sedation that enables you to drive yourself home after the treatment.
  • Deep sedation – where you receive the sedative drug through a vein, so it works more quickly. This method too allows us to continually adjust the level of sedation, but it is more profound than the inhalation method. For this sedation a highly trained dental anaesthetist administers, controls the level of sedation and monitors your vital signs so you are on the edge of consciousness but can still be awakened.
  • General anaesthesia – It is performed at a private hospital where you are completely unconscious. An anaesthetist provides the medication and a machine aids controlling your breathing.

Before the treatment is provided Dr. Kaufman will meet with you and discuss the different options that are suitable for you and your needs. Some of the factors considered include the kind of treatment required, the amount of treatment needed and its urgency.

When you wake up from your treatment, you are not likely to have any recollection of the procedure or the noises. The recovery is gradual and lasts for an hour. Before we release you, we will provide you with personalised verbal and written instructions detailing post-operative care and recovery information.

Our level of care and range of sedation makes us the clinic of choice for a wide range of patients seeking a relaxed experience or sleep dentistry. We make it our goal to create a pleasant, relaxed, comfortable sedation service for paediatric dentistry, phobic patients, and those with special dental needs.

For more information on treatments offered, including cosmetic procedures, dental implants and paediatric dentistry, book an appointment today.