By Alexander Germanis
Most expected experiences in life can be broken down into three moments: anticipation, the deed itself, and the memory.
How we perceive and feel about each moment of the experience can differ drastically one from another. For instance, anticipating a coming holiday can cause excitement and make time appear to drag leading up to it, while the actual experience of the holiday may be less exciting than anticipated or perhaps it may seem to pass all too quickly.
When a dental appointment looms on the horizon, the feelings of anticipation can sometimes be unbearable. In fact, fear of going to the dentist, or dental phobia, ranks among the most common of fears. We tend to fill our minds with worries: Will the dentist find a cavity? How painful is it going to be this time? Will he know I haven’t been flossing?
Unfortunately, the deed of actually going to the dentist may do little to assuage those fears. For Melanie Shellito, a patient of Emil Verban, Jr., DDS, an upcoming root canal was just the sort of thing to cause cold sweat-inducing fear in the days leading up to the procedure.
“It was actually my fourth root canal, so I’d been through it before,” she shares. “My thing was I was freaked out because of the potential for pain. My imagination is way worse than the reality.”
Imagination or no, a root canal is not on anybody’s list of pleasant, pain-free experiences. Luckily for Melanie, Dr. Verban offered a way to not only remove the fear of anticipation of the procedure, but a way to control that fear and pain during the actual experience.
“Dr. Verban had me take an Ativan the night before and the morning of,” Melanie recalls. “So, I was not freaked out going in or worried about if it was going to hurt.”
Ativan, or Lorazepam as it is sometimes called, is a sedative used to treat anxiety. “It sort of chills you out a bit,” Melanie says. “When we actually did the procedure, Dr. Verban gave me nitrous oxide gas, which was great.”
While sedatives like Ativan can even block one’s memory of the procedure itself, Melanie could recall her experience and, for once, has nothing unpleasant to say about getting a root canal.
“It was kind of a light, airy feeling,” she remembers, “but otherwise I was completely cognizant during the whole process. It sort of removes you one step from it.”
“I was having a conversation. I remember asking Dr. Verban some questions when my mouth wasn’t full and I remember him giving me answers; it was only like I just slightly didn’t care,” she laughs. “It was sort of perfect.”
Sedation dentistry does not begin and end with Ativan and nitrous oxide, however. Dentists like Dr. Verban also use intravenous sedation to make any dental experience far more pleasant. “For light IV sedation, Versed and Fentanyl are used. For deep IV sedation Propofol is most common,” Dr. Verban explains. “With both light and deep sedation the patient is fully monitored.”
Sedation via IV drip is a very predictable method, adds the doctor. The onset of sedation usually happens within five minutes and can last for about 30 minutes after the completion of the dental procedure. “With oral sedation and nitrous, a patient is simply more relaxed,” he adds, “but with IV the patient enters a twilight state. Most people have no memory of the procedure.”
Sedation dentistry does come with a couple of caveats, of course. Patients cannot drive themselves home after their procedures. And, of course, there is the issue of cost. “Some insurance plans cover the cost of IV sedation and some do not,” Dr. Verban says.
Fortunately, the cost is negligible. Melanie’s insurance did not cover her oral sedation either, but that didn’t matter much to her. “It’s the sort of thing you have to weigh,” she says. “This one procedure I was very concerned about. So for me, in the end, paying for it out of pocket was worth it. I would do it again.”
Like Melanie, the question is one each person needs to ask on an individual basis: How much is it worth to be able to silence your fears?
For more information or to schedule a dental check-up, you may contact Emil Verban Jr., DDS at 309-662-8448 or visit www.mcleancountydental.com. McLean County Dental is located at 2103 E. Washington Street in Bloomington. Dr. Verban provides his patients with both general dentistry expertise and the ability to provide specialized services such as sedation dentistry, cosmetic procedures, and dental implants.