If you need to go under sedation for your dental implants or All-on-4 treatment, it’s only natural that you may have some questions. We understand this can be a daunting part of any surgery, especially if you’ve never experienced it before.
But rest assured, sedation is perfectly safe when administered and supervised by a medical professional — like our very own Dr Simon Furber. Dr Simon is a qualified medical practitioner with additional training in sedation treatment.
To help ease your nerves and give you a little more insight into what to expect from this procedure, we’ve outlined the top 5 questions our patients ask us about sedation prior to their treatment.
Twilight sedation involves a controlled dose of anaesthetic, sedative and pain relief medications administered via an intravenous (IV) drip into your hand or arm. The medication slows down your central nervous system, causing you to feel calm and relaxed. Some patients even fall asleep once the medication takes effect.
The easiest way to explain twilight sedation is that your body is awake but your mind isn’t. Under twilight sedation, you will be able to fully respond and you may be somewhat aware of your surroundings, but you’ll be less reactive to external stimuli, such as the feeling of dental tools in your mouth, sounds or smells. You will also have a local anaesthetic so you won’t feel any pain or discomfort. Twilight sedation has an amnesic effect too so when you ‘wake up’, you’ll feel like a 4-hour procedure was only about 20 minutes.
Both twilight sedation and general anaesthesia are used to reduce the pain, anxiety and stress related to some medical and dental treatments. However, there are a few key differences between the two.
Twilight sedation puts patients into a relaxed, sleep-like state, but they remain conscious and responsive throughout their treatment. It is considered safer than general anaesthetic and has fewer side effects. It also has a much faster recovery time. Twilight sedation can be administered outside of a hospital, directly in our dental clinic at Dental Implants on Miller. When under twilight sedation, you will be monitored throughout your entire treatment by Dr Simon Furber, while Dr Daniel Adamo concentrates on all aspects of your dental treatment knowing that your sedation is in hand.
With general anaesthesia, patients are completely unconscious for the duration of their treatment. After the treatment is over, it can take a few hours for the effects of the general anaesthetic to wear off and for the patient to become fully responsive again. General anaesthetic does have more risks and potential complications than twilight sedation. It also costs a lot more.
Twilight sedation is commonly used for patients who experience extreme anxiety or have a dental phobia. But it can also make dental treatments a lot more comfortable for people who:
A combination of medications are used in twilight sedation so we can tailor the dose to suit each person. This means almost everyone is suitable for sedation. Plus, sedation can be used for any dental procedure we offer at Dental Implants on Miller.
The fee for sedation is paid separately to your treatment and is not paid Dental Implants on Miller. The sedation fee and payment terms will be clearly outlined on your treatment plan paperwork. The most you can expect the sedation fee to cost is around $1,000. You will receive a receipt on the day of your procedure which you can take to Medicare for your rebate. Usually, you’ll receive a rebate of around half the costs back.
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