Getting Dental Work Done "Knocked Out"

Often times I hear a patient refer to being “knocked out” for procedures such as extracting wisdom teeth or placement of implants.  Truth is, to “knock out” a patient we would have to perform General Anesthesia.  This is when a patient is intubated, and is done because he or she no longer has reflexes to breath on their own. We rarely do this for routine dental procedures.  In fact, when a patient refers to being “knocked out”, they may be describing “twilight” or conscious sedation. Conscious sedation is a form of sedation in which patients still have their reflexes during the procedure.  What this means is they breathe and move on their own while being sedated.  In our office we use an intravenously delivered sedative,  90% of the time our patients do not remember the procedure performed. The level of sedation used allows our patients to remain comfortable through out the procedure, without anxiety, while remaining aware enough to respond to stimuli and questions if need be. This allows us to provide a variety of services with relative ease and comfort to the patient.]]>