Oral Sedation

Dentists are now advertising oral sedation (medication taken by mouth) in various media. They claim that this very light form of sedation allows you to be “out.” But this is simply not true or safe! Oral sedation, since it is given in pill form, is not very predictable. Some patients get sedated, but others simply will not sedate. It is more common for the oral sedative to not be effective enough for most patients.

Do we use oral sedation in our office? The answer is yes, but for very limited, EASY procedures only. Some procedures that do not involve oral surgery procedures, or are very short, are done with oral medications. Some dentists are also charging up to $500 for this very basic method, which is absurd.

We have always urged patients to ask their dentist about their training to perform these procedures. Unfortunately, most have little experience and even less emergency procedures training. Dr. Ramsey Amin and his staff have advanced training in sedation…we do this multiple times a day!


IV Sedation

Intravenous sedation produces a very predictable sedation. Unlike oral sedation (pills), the medications are delivered intravenously and can be easily adjusted to the needs of the patient. With longer treatment times, the sedation drugs can be re-administered to keep the patient comfortable at all times. This is not possible with oral medications. It is not safe or recommended to re-administer oral medications.

IV sedation also uses pain relieving drugs. The administration of these types of drugs is not normally done in oral sedation techniques. When a patient needs complicated dental procedures in a single session, IV sedation is clearly the method of choice.

The training and educational requirements of the Dental Board of California to perform IV sedation are extensive. Before the Board issues a permit, the applicant must complete a course that meets the rigorous requirements of the American Dental Association. There is also an in-office evaluation of the permit applicant by two evaluators selected by the state of California.

Dr. Amin has been practicing IV Sedation since 1999 and has passed three of these evaluations.  He has performed more than 5000 sedations.

Some offices are advertising that they have IV sedation services for general dentistry. However, what they do not advertise is that it is not the dentist that does the IV sedation. These offices bring in a Dental Anesthesiologist once a month. This is very expensive, costing over $2,900 per hour. Our fee is not even close to that. At our office, it is our doctor that does the dentistry and the IV sedation because of advanced training. You will be personally treated by Dr. Ramsey Amin.


Sleep Dentistry Services

Details of Sedation | Oral vs. IV Sedation | Unable to Get Numb?