Nitrous Oxide Sedation for Children

Oral Sedation for Children

With oral Sedation, your child will drink a medicine that will make them sleepy. It is well received by most children as all they do is drink the medicine and watch a movie until they become sleepy. The onset of the medicines used is delayed because the drug has to go from the stomach to the intestine to the liver and then to the blood stream. This takes between 30 minutes to an hour depending on what meds are used. The medicines can sometimes cause vomiting and therefore your child is not allowed to have anything to eat or drink after Midnight the night before sedation. Because of the unpredictability of the drug absorption, some children do not become sleepy enough and we have to use an alternative method. Many children’s teeth are fixed by using this method without an issue.

IV Sedation for Children

IV or intravenous sedation is where Dr. Shepherd or an Anesthesiologist will start an IV. The medicine to sedate the child is given through the IV line. This route of drug administration has several advantages over oral and Intra-Nasal sedation. The drug effect is almost instantaneous, less drug is used and Dr. Shepherd or the anesthesiologist can keep the child safely sedated until all work is done. The child is hydrated throughout the procedure with the IV fluid. Once the dental work is done there is no more drug given and the child recovers quickly. The difficulty of this sedation route is getting the IV started in a child. This is usually accomplished by giving the child a low dose of medicine to help slow them down enough to get an IV started. Once the IV line is in this becomes the most controlled form of sedation.