Your Comfort Is Our Priority We offer sedation dentistry to make your experience with us as pleasant as possible. Sedation dentistry uses medication to help patients relax during dental procedures.

River Valley Smile Center offers oral and IV anesthesia to our patients. These medications are widely used and are proven to be safe and effective to maximize comfort.

What is IV Sedation?
IV Sedation enables a higher level of sedation than can be reached with oral or nitrous oxide sedation. It is often known as ‘twilight’ or ‘sleep’ anesthesia. Though patients remain conscious during IV sedation and able to understand and respond,  they are in a deep state of relaxation. Time will appear to pass very quickly and most patients have partial of full amnesia (memory loss) of the procedure.

Both effective and highly reliable, IV sedation dentistry is extremely safe when the process is supervised by a specially-trained anesthesia dentist. Here at River Valley Smile Center, Dr. Cole J. Johnson DDS received special training in anesthesia during his residency in Birmingham, AL.

Additionally, Jo Johnson RN aids in monitoring sedation and has worked in the hospital setting (ER and Labor Delivery) for 10 + years. IV sedation is a very popular option when undergoing dental treatments ranging from a routine cleaning to more extensive dental work.

Who is a Candidate for IV Sedation?
IV sedation dentistry works well for many patients who have:

– an anxiety or phobia related to dental procedure
– an easily triggered gag reflex
– very sensitive teeth
– a fear of needles
– had a traumatic dental experience in the past

It is also the method of choice for patients that:
– are having complex dental work or oral surgery
– those who prefer to complete long treatments in just one visit.

Before undergoing any sedation dentistry procedure, patients should always notify  us about any pre-existing medical conditions, current medications, or allergies, including previous allergic reactions to medication.