Centre for Distinctive Dentistry Blog - Dr. Ned Nippoldt

A recent episode of the television show Glee features several high school glee club members having their teeth worked on while they are given general anesthesia by Dr. Carl, a local dentist who is dating one of the high school teachers. While under the anesthesia, the members have lively hallucinations about Brittany Spears.

This depiction of sedation dentistry was given a bit of a "Hollywood" glamorization for the viewers' entertainment. While sedation dentistry is a wonderful adjunct to help fearful patients overcome their fears and get the dental work done in a relaxed, comfortable situation, our patients are not sedated to the level that they lose consciousness and have hallucinations. Instead, we work with a board-certified sedation provider who uses intravenous medicines to help our patients reach a level of total relaxation during their dental procedures. This is safer than general anesthesia, and in most instances our sedation patients don't even remember having the dental work done. We have found that having a sedation provider whose sole job is to administer the sedation and keep our patients comfortable during the procedure and a dentist who can concentrate on delivering excellent dental care for his patients results in the optimal experience for our patients.

For some patients, fear of having dental work completed is very real. Avoiding getting needed dental care completed poses real health risks, including increased risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, cerebrovascular disease and even certain complications during pregnancy. It is very gratifying to be able to help patients who have avoided going to the dentist get on the road to better health.

If you are interested in Sedation Dentistry and are in the Woodbury, St. Paul, Minneapolis, MN or Hudson, WI, areas, please contact Dr. Nippoldt's Centre for Distinctive Dentistry at 651-739-8573.

Labels: Glee, IV Sedation, Sedation Dentistry