Dental Implants Chicago» Dental Implant and Pain–Wheaton Man Relates his Story

Dental Implant and Pain–Wheaton Man Relates his Story

Thomas Gibbs — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:59:29 +0000

So what is it like to have a dental implant placed? This short video shows a man from Wheaton describing how it was to have the implant surgically placed, ant the subsequent crown placed.
His dental implants were placed using the more modern “flapeless” approach, vs. the older method where the gums had to be “pulled back” to place the dental implants. Most patients report that they “just took a couple of asprin that night,” or “their dental implants were painless.” Better methods of pain control and surgical technique have greatly diminished pain and discomfort in dental implant surgery. This case was for a single dental implant crown to avoid having a dental bridge. More involved cases now utilize complex CT scans and imaging software to use this “flapless” approach.

Pain & Dental Implants?–Patient from Glen Ellyn

Thomas Gibbs — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:44:29 +0000

Are having dental implant placed surgically a painful? You might find this short patient feedback video useful. It is from one on my favorite patients, Jesse “pain-free” Abrahams, a patient for over 10 years now. He does answer the question of “Are dental implants painful?”
Jesse will talk about his cosmetic dentistry, dental implants, and his “painless dentistry. ” He had a couple of dental implants with dental sedation, and has been a pleasure to work with!

Visit to the Dentist–Harvy Corman Classic Video–Fear of Dental Shots?

Thomas Gibbs — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:25:57 +0000

I was attending a meeting of the American Dental Society of Anesthesiology in Las Vegas this last weekend where one of the lectures showed this video of Harvy Corman. I think it was from the Carol Burnett show. Very funny!

It certainly shows a fear that many patients I see have–Concern of the dental needle, or shot. This of course make fun of the subjest–and humor certainly helps! Would you believe that the groups that I see the most phobia in requiring dental sedation is nurses and physicians! If you are concerned, visit our Glen Ellyn dentist website or Wheaton dentist blog site for more information about how your visits can be more comfortable.

Dental Conscious Sedation–Oral and IV Sedation

Thomas Gibbs — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:54:27 +0000

Here’s a question I’ve been asked about—“What is dental conscious sedation?” Valid question as the 2 words seem to be contradictory as if you are sedated how you could be conscious!
The dictionary defines sedation as the “reduction of anxiety, stress, irritability, or excitement by administration of a sedative agent or drug.” It does not specify the degree of reduction.
In the dental setting there are a number of levels of sedation. Light sedation can be achieved with nitrous oxide gas (Laughing gas), or oral conscious sedation. For more information of the different levels see our blog site on sedation dentistry, or dedicated website on conscious sedation.
But why do we say conscious sedation? Done properly with conscious sedation, the patient may not be aware of what is going on in the dental office, but the patient is still able to respond to verbal commands such as to open their mouth. Most important, they are completely comfortable and have no memory of their dental visit (just what they were hoping for!).
This can often be accomplished with oral conscious sedation. However very often the level of sedation is not predicable with oral sedation. Most states prevent the dentist from giving incremental doses of medication without the dentist having their IV sedation license. Oral sedation medications require 30 to 60 minutes to take effect, the scheduled procedure is not able to be completed if additional oral sedation medication is needed for patient comfort. IV medications require just minutes to take effect and patient comfort and adequate can be maintained.
So what is the conclusion? If sedation is simply by “a reduction of anxiety…” most drug regiments will satisfy the definition. My experience is the “Patient’s definition” of sedation is that they are completely comfortable and amnesic (no memory) of the dental procedure. This may be accomplished with dental oral sedation, but is much more predicable with IV dental sedation.

Conscious Dental Sedation–Sedation Dentist & Sedation Dentistry

Thomas Gibbs — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 02:01:06 +0000

Here’s a question I’ve been asked form a patient from Wheaton looking for a sedation—“What is dental conscious sedation?” Valid question as the 2 words seem to be contradictory as if you are sedated how you could be conscious!
The dictionary defines sedation as the “reduction of anxiety, stress, irritability, or excitement by administration of a sedative agent or drug.” It does not specify the degree of reduction. In the dental setting there are a number of levels provided by the sedation dentist . Light sedation can be achieved with nitrous oxide gas (Laughing gas), or oral conscious sedation. For more information of the different levels see our blog site on sedation dentistry, or dedicated website on conscious sedation.
But why do we say conscious sedation? Done properly with conscious sedation, the patient may not be aware of what is going on in the dental office, but the patient is still able to respond to verbal commands such as to “open their mouth.” Most important, they are completely comfortable and have no memory of their dental visit (just what they were hoping for!). Done improperly they can remain alert and remember everything.
This can often be accomplished with oral conscious sedation. However very often the level of dental sedation is not predicable with oral sedation. Most states prevent the dentist from giving incremental doses of medication without the dentist having their IV sedation license. Because oral sedation medications require 30 to 60 minutes to take effect, the scheduled procedure is not often able to be completed if additional oral sedation medication is needed for patient comfort. IV medications require just minutes to take effect and patient comfort and can be adjusted maintained throughout the distist visit.
So what is the conclusion? If sedation is simply by “a reduction of anxiety…” most drug regiments will satisfy the definition. My experience is the “Patient’s definition” of sedation is that they are completely comfortable and amnesic (no memory) of the dental procedure. This can sometimes be accomplished with nitrous oxide sedation or dental oral sedation, but is much more predicable with IV dental sedation. Also, some patients want different levels of sedation depending on the procedures–for exmaple nitrous may be sufficient for one hour tooth whitening, but they want IV sedation for more difficult procedures like dental implants.

IV Dental Sedation & Dental Implants–Man from Elmhurst

Thomas Gibbs — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:32:33 +0000

I.V. sedation is the most advanced sedative technique for the comprehensive control of pain and anxiety in dentistry. In this technique, drugs that produce the sedative effect are placed into an I.V. line, which is placed into a vein. Less than 2% of general dentist in Illinois have the special training, permit, and licensing issued by the Board of Dental Examiners to perform this advanced sedative technique.
Intraveneous IV sedation produces a profound state of relaxation. Dr. Gibbs is not only able to carefully control the amount of sedation required, but adjust the level quickly to make certain the patient is always comfortable. In most cases, amnesia is profound–patients typically will not remember the procedures performed. The intravenous sedation method is superior pain control.
With the technique that Dr. Gibbs uses most frequently, an oral pill is first used to relax the patient prior to giving the IV medication. This way the patient is completely relaxed before the IV is started. This is particularly good when the patient is needle phobic, as there often little memory of the IV being started.
Most states (Illinois included) do not allow dentists without to titrate, or adjust, the amount of medication orally to ascertain patient comfort. Because so few dentists are licensed to perform this level of sedation and comfort, we do have to limit the number of procedures we are able to perform each week. It is a common occurrence to have patients drive over 100 miles for IV sedation procedures. For truly apprehensive patients, we would encourage you to verify the level of comfort that your dentist “promises” to deliver!

P.S.–Why is this post in a website usually devoted to dental implants? Because the very high fear group typically does have greater restorative needs. It also allows Dr. Gibbs to do surgical procedures comfortably, and be far more experienced in complex dental restorations! (Be especially wary of those who offer sedation pill dentistry without the IV “‘what-if” mode).