Comfort Dentistry
For some people, dental appointments can be a time of high stress. This dental anxiety can be reason enough to cancel their appointments or to avoid making them in the first place. However, this isn’t a great strategy, because your dental health is important and treatments that are avoided can lead to your symptoms worsening.
Sedation dentistry seeks to address this issue. Through the use of medication, we can help sedate you through your dental procedures, to ensure the best experience possible.
We emphasize comfort and safety while you are in our office and receiving our services. Thus, ensuring your comfort and preparedness for any kind of visit to our office not only allows you to have a positive experience, but allows our team to do their job in an effective manner, as well. If you are looking for a positive dental experience near you, look no farther than Brumbach Family Dentistry in Post Falls.
What is a Comfort Dentistry?
At Brumbach Family Dentistry, we work incredibly hard to make sure you are comfortable every single visit. From simple comforts like blankets, pillows and headphones, to the more complex like Nitrous Oxide and Sedation Dentistry, we want to maximize comfort during your visit. Click our links below to read more information about the comfort services we provide:
Sedation Dentistry
Modern advancements in dentistry have provided many ways to improve the look of your smile and the overall health of your mouth. If you are interested in having dental work done, but nervous or anxious about dental treatments, then continue reading. We hope you find out more about the options we provide to make your experience as enjoyable as possible.Dr. Brumbach and his staff work together to make sure your office visit is as comfortable as possible. Depending on the procedure, we utilize local anesthetics and anxiety-reducing medication at necessary levels to help relax our patients. Our goal is to provide the most comfortable experience possible.
When we fear something, sometimes the anticipation is the worst part of the experience. Fear can make our bodies more tense, and we can become more sensitive to pain than we would be normally. If this sounds like you when visiting the dentist, ask Dr. Brumbach and his staff about sedative options to help you relax.
Before we can administer any sedative, we ask that you provide us with a complete medical history, including medications you are currently taking. We ask this to identify any medications that, if combined with the sedative, might produce negative side effects. It is also very important to let us know if you smoke or drink alcohol, and if so, how often. Depending on the on the type of relaxing agent you receive, you will need to have someone with you in order drive you to and from your appointment.
Inhalation Conscious Sedation
Nitrous oxide (otherwise known as laughing gas) is an inhaled sedative that provides considerable anxiety relief for patients. This sedative is incredibly safe and has been used by dentists for nearly a century. It doesn’t require any preparation before your appointment, nor do the effects linger and inhibit your awareness, sense of control, or ability to function after your appointment. It is an excellent pain reliever by itself and is often used with oral anti-anxiety medication.
A mixture of oxygen and nitrous oxide is administered through a nasal hood (as pictured below). The oxygen mixed with nitrous oxide provides a light-headed or even euphoric feeling, and generally a feeling like you “just don’t care.” All bodily functions remain essentially normal during the use of this sedative, which is very safe.
Oral Sedation
Oral sedation is given in pill form, either as a whole pill or as a pill dissolved under the tongue. This is an option that many patients prefer because it does not require an injection by needle. In addition, it works quickly, and is often coupled with Nitrous Oxide.
There are many kinds of oral sedatives and medications that help ease anxiety. All of these are incredibly safe and have been extensively researched and tested. Some of these also have “amnesic” properties, meaning you will remember little to nothing, even though you are awake during the procedure. Commonly used oral sedation medications include Valium®, Halcion®, Sonata®, Ativan®, and Ambien®.
Intravenous (IV) Conscious Sedation
This is a great option for a patient who prefers a sedative that is more potent or gives amnesia (not remembering what happened). We can administer the sedative intravenously, directly into the vein, allowing the medication to enter the bloodstream very quickly. The patient can feel the effects almost immediately, but sedation levels are able to be adjusted more precisely than with the other methods. Administering the sedative directly into the vein can also affect other systems of the body like heart rate, blood pressure and breathing. Therefore, we always make sure to caution patients and educate them on the higher risks associated with this method.
Administering this treatment requires a considerable amount of training. During this type of sedation, we will constantly monitor your vitals with specialized equipment, adjusting the level of sedation as necessary. Rest assured, you are in highly- trained and well-equipped hands here at Brumbach Family Dentistry.
NUCALM
We want to offer an array of opportunities for you to alleviate your stress and anxiety about the dentist’s chair. Thus, we are excited to offer this high-tech method of relief for you while you are in our office.
Brumbach Family Dentistry was the first office in North Idaho to offer this revolutionary method. It is a drug-free, all-in-one natural method to shut off your stress. In their words, it is a “neuroscience platform technology that induces deep relaxation and recovery” by signaling the body to go into a state of sleep-like consciousness.
How Does it Work?
We have provided a description straight from their website in order to capture the succinctness of their science.
“The first step to all-natural relaxation is blocking out light. Then, the NuCalm Biosignal Processing Disc delivers electromagnetic frequencies to the body that biochemically help your brain interrupt adrenaline and cortisol release, by mimicking what naturally occurs in your brain right before you fall sleep. Finally, the “music” – the neuroacoustic software delivers frequencies to your brain that guide you to Theta brain wave lengths, which is the restorative “healing” zone. Combining all three components ensures you will achieve deep relaxation and the therapeutic outcome of autonomic nervous system balance every time you use NuCalm.” 1
This is a highly advanced way to achieve a safe, stress-free environment for both you and Dr. Brumbach. If you have any questions about this method and/or are interested in trying it, please let us know!
To read more about this technology, visit their NuCalm’s website..
Why Consider Comfort Dentistry?
If you are unsure if this is the right option for you, please let us know your concerns before your dental work, or give us a call to schedule a time to come in and visit with us about your options.
How do I Prepare for this Kind of Care?
Additionally, check out how to Reverse Your Numbness after an Appointment in the following video!
Call our office today to set up an appointment with Dr. Zach Brumbach and his dental professional team and we can help you get a smile you’re proud to share.