Sedation Dentistry – St. Catharines, ON

A Calm Appointment Every Time

Bringing your child to the dentist can be stressful, but it doesn’t have to be! Dr. Jonathan Campbell is a highly trained dental anesthesiologist, which means he’s able to offer a wide array of dental sedation options designed to help your little one’s nerves disappear. Between this and our friendly team, you’ll be surprised how relaxing a trip to the dentist can be! Give us a call today to learn more about our available options for sedation dentistry in St. Catharines, ON.

Why Choose Coral Kids Dentistry & Braces
for Sedation Dentistry?

  • Dental Anesthesiologist on Staff
  • Fun, State-of-the-Art Dental Office
  • Kind, Warm, & Compassionate Team

Nitrous Oxide Sedation

Patient receiving nitrous oxide sedation dentistry treatment

Nitrous oxide is the lightest type of sedation available – in fact, you may have heard it referred to as “laughing gas” before! Therefore, it’s a common solution for little ones who experience dental-related anxiety or have trouble staying comfortable in the treatment chair. If you’d like to learn more about this calming solution, read on.

Who Is a Good Candidate for Nitrous Oxide?

The good news is that nitrous oxide is both light and effective, making it a great solution for children coming to visit us for essential preventive, restorative, and emergency care. With that said, it isn’t the right fit for everyone. For example, children with severe anxiety and/or a complex amount of dental work to complete may need a stronger type of sedation, like oral conscious sedation. Additionally, if your little one has any breathing issues that involve the nose, nitrous oxide might not be the best fit. Don’t worry – our knowledgeable team will review all of this with you at your initial visit so you can make an informed decision on what’s best.

How Does Nitrous Oxide Work?

In addition to being fast-acting, nitrous oxide is easy to administer. After your child settles into the treatment chair, we will place a comfortable nasal mask over their nose. Then, we will adjust the nobs to administer the nitrous oxide. Within minutes, they should feel much more relaxed and at ease. After their treatment is complete, we will adjust the flow to just oxygen, and the effects will dissipate almost instantly.

Aftercare for Nitrous Oxide

Unlike other sedation options, nitrous oxide won’t leave your child feeling groggy or sleepy. In fact, our patients can often return to their regular activities (school, sports, etc.) with only minimal delay. As a result, just the normal post-op guidelines apply, like making sure they have all feeling in their mouth before eating.

Oral Conscious Sedation Dentistry

Patient drinking oral conscious dental sedation medication in juice

Oral conscious sedation helps our patients achieve a much deeper state of rest without being put to sleep entirely. If nitrous oxide isn’t effective enough for their specific needs, this might be the right choice! The process is simple – we will give them a fruity drink that contains medication, and a short time after ingesting it, they’ll be extremely relaxed. In fact, some of our young patients don’t even remember anything about the experience once it’s over, despite being technically awake throughout the treatment.

Deep Dental Sedation

Dental patient asleep under deep sedation dentistry and general anesthesiology

We often recommend general anesthesia for extremely young patients, treatments involving highly invasive and complex care, and/or children with extreme anxiety. The medication is administered intravenously by a highly trained dental anesthesiologist, and your son or daughter will fall deeply asleep as a result. We help them make the transition very comfortably by starting with nitrous oxide and setting them up with a movie until they nod off.

“Deep” sedation has many valuable benefits. This form of sedation allows our team to complete extensive dental treatment in one convenient visit, and it’s also very convenient for cases of extreme sensitivity. Our little patients don’t have to know about any of it – they’ll just wake up with a happier, healthier smile.