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Sedation dentistry is a rising treatment option for patients who need pharmacological assistance being calm and relaxed prior to receiving a dental treatment. Sometimes sedation dentistry is known as “sleep dentistry.”
Sedation dentistry’s history goes back to the late 18th century to Humphry Davy, a chemist. He began experimenting with the effects of the inhalation of different gasses on himself, in particular, the gas laughing gas. Davy discovered that the gas produced an analgesic effect when inhaled, and the gas became commonly known as “laughing gas.”
Years later, in 1844, Horace Wells, an American dentist used laughing gas as his only pain-killer when his own molar tooth was extracted. Wells was the first person to observe that while undergoing treatment, he had very little pain, but that he was also fully conscious and able to respond to instructions. A short time later, John Warren, a surgeon, and William Morton, a dentist, put on a demonstration at Harvard University, wherein they performed oral surgery on a patient volunteer utilizing a compound made of sulfur-ether as the anesthetic. The area of sedation dentistry was beginning to progress!
In the late 1800s, Edmond Andrews, a prominent Chicago surgeon, refined the procedure for administering pain-relieving inhaled gasses to patients to include a mix of laughing gas and oxygen, directly addressing patient deaths associated with pure laughing gas. This discovery was applicable in the surgical theatre as well as in the dental chair. Later, this mix was refined to include ether and chloroform for deeper, longer-lasting sedation.
IV sedation was popularized in the mid 1900s in California at the Loma Linda University School of Dentistry. Dentists were able to experiment with different sedation options to give the greatest level of pain relief and sedation.
Modern sedation dentistry not only includes sedation during treatment, but oral sedation given an hour prior or even the night before to alleviate anxiety and fear. Talk to your dentist to see what sedation dentistry can do for you and your next dental treatment.
