My IV Sedation Dentistry Experience

A lot of people have anxiety when it comes to the dentist. For me, I am usually okay with the drilling part, it's just the needles that are necessary for freezing that get to me. So when I started getting a pretty brutal cavity on one of my front teeth, I started to dread that work that needed to be done. It is even worse when one of your front teeth need to be worked on as that requires a needle in the roof of your mouth (a much more sensitive area as the cartalidge is tougher and takes more pressure to get through).

I began looking into sedation dentsistry over a year ago. I picked a dentist in Red Deer that I was told did it. I went to my first session and somewhat got tricked into getting work done the old fashion way. I spent 7 months getting work done there, not including the front teeth that I needed done. Eventually after we moved to Leduc, I found a new dentist in South Edmonton (Ellerslie) and began seeing her. I got a quote for the work but found out I'd have to wait until January as my Red Deer doctor used up almost all my benefits for the 2010 calendar year. The Edmonton dentist was outraged that the Red Deer one had used up so much money and I still had so much work left to do. She more than implied that I got ripped off in Red Deer.

On January 6th, I went in for my IV dentistry experience. Although my dentist is trained to do the IV herself, there was a nurse present & hired for the day to do my IV. Lucky me, it only took her THREE tries to get the IV in.  Failed attempts in my left inner elbow area, left back of the hand and then a successful attempt in my right inner elbow. I have square inch bruises from the failed attempts and they definitely hurt during and after.

There were some negatives to the experience. For one, I thought I'd be "knocked out" but that's not really how it works. Basically you are just so relaxed that you tend to fall asleep. I did and had two naps. The sedation also isn't a painkiller, so I still had to have the freezing needles. I remember getting all of them. They were less painful than normal, but I still had pain. The dentist did 8 fillings over the course of about 3 1/2 hours. All in all, I am glad I did it because I hopefully have everything taken care of now (providing that I take better care of my teeth now). The dentist was great in that my gums are completely intact, whereas the Red Deer dentist had no respect for my gums whatsoever: I'd come home with literally shredded gums.  Once the freezing wore off I wasn't too sore other than my jaw and where the needles were...all of which are still sore today but to a lesser degree.

So I am quite happy with my Edmonton dentist. Hopefully I won't have to see her more often than the obligitory cleanings throughout the year.