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Comfort · IV conscious sedation
With IV conscious sedation a sedative goes in through a tiny cannula, usually in the hand. You become deeply relaxed and sleepy, aware of very little, yet breathing on your own and able to answer when spoken to. At Sardinia House in Holborn it is provided by Dr Damien Reilly, a dedicated dental sedationist, alongside the dentist treating you. Fees are quoted in writing at consultation.
Guide fee
Quoted in writing at consultation
Suitable for
Most adult treatment
Recovery
Home the same day, with an escort
With
Dr Damien Reilly, dental sedationist
Who it is for
Many people who have not seen a dentist in years are not careless about their teeth. They are frightened. Sedation lets the treatment that has built up be done calmly, often in fewer visits, with little memory of it afterwards.
Scans, X-rays and work on back teeth can be an ordeal when the reflex is sensitive. Under sedation it is usually much reduced, so the dentist can work comfortably and you are not fighting your own throat.
Implant placement, several extractions or a long restorative session are easier to sit through sedated. Time passes quickly, the muscles of the jaw relax and the clinician can complete more in a single visit.
Anxiety raises adrenaline, and adrenaline can make local anaesthetic less effective. Once you are relaxed under sedation, the anaesthetic usually takes more reliably and the whole experience is calmer for everyone in the room.
The difference
Dr Damien Reilly gives the sedation and watches over you throughout, while the dentist concentrates on the dentistry. Two clinicians in the room, each with one task, is how we keep sedation calm and safe.
Before sedation is booked, we take a full medical history, carry out the checks sedation requires and go through the medicines you take. Sedation is only offered where it is appropriate, and we explain the alternatives where it is not.
Your oxygen levels, pulse and blood pressure are watched continuously while you are sedated and until you are ready to leave. The drug is given in small, adjusted doses, so you are as relaxed as you need to be and no more.
Because the dose is adjusted as you go, longer treatments become possible in one sitting. We plan the dentistry around the sedation, so an anxious patient can often have work that would take several ordinary visits completed in one.
The process
You meet the dentist and talk through what you need and what worries you. We go through your medical history, check that sedation is safe for you, and write down the fee for the sedation and for the dentistry itself.
We give you written instructions on eating, drinking and your usual medicines beforehand. A responsible adult must come with you, wait while you are treated, take you home and keep you company for the rest of the day.
A small cannula is placed in the back of your hand or arm, and the sedative is given slowly until you are comfortably drowsy. The treatment is then carried out with local anaesthetic in the usual way.
You rest with us until Dr Reilly is satisfied that you are ready to leave, usually within an hour or so of the last dose. Most people remember very little of the appointment itself.
For the remainder of that day: no driving, no work, no alcohol and no big decisions. Any follow-up is arranged before you leave, and we see you for a review once the treatment has settled.
Afterwards
The sedative stays in your system for around 24 hours, so you should not drive, operate machinery, drink alcohol, sign documents or go back to work that day, and a responsible adult should stay with you. Rest, eat lightly once you feel like it and follow the aftercare for the treatment itself. By the next morning you will usually feel yourself again.
Guide fees
Guide fees. Nothing is started until your plan, with every fee written down, is in your hands. See all fees
Good to know
The sedation fee depends on the length of the appointment and is quoted in writing at your consultation, alongside the fee for the dentistry itself. It is listed separately in your plan so you can see exactly what each part costs. Finance is available, subject to status.
No. Conscious sedation is not a general anaesthetic. You keep breathing on your own and can answer if we speak to you, but you feel deeply calm, and afterwards most patients recall very little of the appointment.
Placing the cannula is a brief scratch, similar to a blood test, and the sedative begins to work within a few minutes. The dentistry itself is done under local anaesthetic once you are relaxed, so you should feel pressure rather than pain.
Follow the written instructions we give you at consultation about eating, drinking and your usual medicines. They are set out for you individually, because they depend on your health and the treatment planned, and we ask you to follow them exactly.
Most healthy adults. Some medical conditions, some medicines and pregnancy mean it is not suitable, which is why we assess you first and may write to your GP. If IV sedation is not right for you, we discuss other ways to make treatment easier.
No. A responsible adult needs to bring you, collect you and keep you company for the rest of the day. For your safety we cannot sedate anyone who arrives alone, however well they feel, so please arrange this before the appointment.
For most treatment we provide at Sardinia House, from a long restorative session to implant surgery and extractions. We are around five minutes from Holborn station, which keeps the journey home with your escort short, and we help you time the appointment so the rest of the day is free to recover.
We do not prescribe sedative tablets remotely. For treatment that nerves have made difficult, IV conscious sedation with Dr Damien Reilly, our dental sedationist, gives a reliable and closely monitored level of relaxation. The right option for you, from a calm first visit without treatment to full sedation, is discussed at your consultation.
Tell us, and we will plan around it. Numbing gel is placed on the gum before any injection, the sedative itself goes in through a single small cannula on the back of the hand, and once it is working most people have little memory of what follows. Some patients prefer a first visit for a scan and a conversation only, so that nothing is done until they feel ready.
Questions first?
Not ready to book a consultation yet? Tell us what you would like to know, whether that is how long it takes, what it costs or whether it would suit you, and one of our treatment coordinators will reply. We aim to answer within one working day.
Please keep medical details for your visit, where we can talk them through properly. How we look after your information is explained in our privacy notice.
Thank you. Your question has reached our treatment coordinators, and we aim to reply within one working day.
Sorry, your question could not be sent from this page. Please email info@sardiniadental.com or call 020 7404 8600.
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