• Dental Phobia Support

    Welcome! This is an online support group for anyone who is has a severe fear of the dentist or dental treatment. Please note that this is NOT a general dental problems or health anxiety forum! You can find a list of them here.

    Register now to access all the features of the forum.

What does oral sedation feel like?

G

ghosthunter79

Junior member
Joined
Mar 30, 2009
Messages
10
Location
St. Louis MO
I am freaking out about my appointment next week I am 29 and need 14 teeth extracted! I am getting implants once the bone heals abit. I have never been sedated and this is making me a bit more afraid because i dont know what to expect! I have not even had the gas! Only local injections. Anyone ever had the oral sedation? (triazolam)
 
hi there

i am in the same situation. have sedation next week for a 5 hour appointment and am very frightened. let me know how you got on at your own appointment, i would be interested in hearing what it was like, thanks
 
Hello:

This is an overview of oral sedation. The most common medication for oral Sedation dentistry is Halcion (trizolam). It is a sleeping pill that has sedative effects. It is used in the USA for dental procedures. I do not think it is available in the UK.

A sedative is a medication that calms a you down, easing agitation and permitting sleep. Sedatives generally work by modulating signals within the central nervous system.

Halcion is in a class of medications called Benzodiazpines. These drugs are used for anxiety and sedation. Halcion binds with the GABA receptors in the brain.

Here is a quick overview of the method of action of Benzos:

Your body produces many different brain chemicals. These natural chemicals (neurotransmitters) have either a "calming" or "arrousing" effect on the brain. These chemicals transmit these messages to the cells in the brain.

About 40% of the billions of brain cells respond to GABA. GABA is the brains "calming" or tranquillizing neurotransmitter. Benzodiazepine medications enhance the effect of GABA.

When one suffers from anxiety or panic attacks then the brain becomes "over-aroused" it needs the transmitters associated with the "calming" chemicals to come into action . These respond by sending messages to the brain cells to slow down or to stop and since a large portion of the brain’s cells are responsive to these transmitters there is a “calming” affect on the brain.
Benzodiazepines have similar chemicals to those produced by the body for "calming" effects and when these are added to those produced naturally by the body it means that there are a greater number of transmitters sending out messages to the brain cells resulting in an excessive slow down or shut down of these cells.
As a result of this increase in the numbers of cells being slowed down the brains output of "arousing" transmitters is reduced. However, these “arousing” transmitters are vital for normal alertness, memory, co-ordination, emotional responses, heart rate, and blood pressure.
The failure to produce enough excitatory transmitters affects the functioning of these systems and affects the bodies normal working.

Halcion is used for Insomnia but is also used as an Oral Sedative. It works very quickly (10-15 minutes). Halcion effects are usually gone within 2-3 hours after taking the medication.

It causes sedation and amnesia for the event. This medication is well tolerated and very effective for most people. You dentist might use a technique called "stacked dosing." This means you may be given an additional dose shortly after the first in order to achieve the desired level of sedation.

Most people do not remember the procedure after taking this medication and the effects are pleasant. This is the most common type of Oral sedation used in dentistry in the USA. It has a great track record of success. Your dentist might have you take a dose the night before in order to get you a good nights sleep.

This medication is an excellent choice for dentistry as it works very quickly and leaves the body in a few hours. It does not cause motor problems or have a long lasting "hangover effect" like Valium. You will probably feel sleepy or drowsy for a few hours after the procedure but be none the worse for wear.

Hope this helps.
 
Back
Top