Patient Comfort
Want an appointment?
Are you anxious about dental treatment?
We get it! We know that most people don’t like dental treatment and we don’t want this to be a reason to prevent you from getting periodontal treatment and looking after your teeth.
We team up with Anaesthetists that help us deliver the best periodontal treatment in the most comfortable way. They help us provide your treatment under either an intravenous sedation (twilight sedation) or general anaesthesia
General Anaesthetic
Provided at ‘Southbank Day Surgery’
We operate under general anaesthetic at Southbank Day Surgery, South Perth. All of the periodontal procedures are day procedures and do not require an overnight stay at the hospital. This option allows us to treat the most anxious patients in the most comfortable way. It also allows us to provide treatment, that otherwise would have taken multiple sessions under local anaesthesia, in one session.
Intravenous Sedation
Provided at ‘The Periodontists’
Intravenous sedation is a technique where some medications are provided by our in-house consultant anaesthetist through a tube in one of the veins of the arm or the hand. These medications are specifically designed to decrease anxiety and improve the experience of the treatment recipient. It allows you to be calm and co-operative during treatment. However, it does not aim and will not put you to sleep. Some awareness is necessary for safety and to co-operate with us during the procedure. The medications used in intravenous sedation allow a relatively quick recovery time (few hours) with fewer side effects compared to the medications used in general anaesthesia.
Intravenous sedation is a very pleasant way of receiving dental treatment. We use it mainly for procedures like canine exposure and gingival (gum) grafting.
Other anti-anxiety methods for
Anxious Dental Patients
In very limited circumstances, or for minor procedures, we can provide a prescription of anti-anxiety tablets prior to the procedure or give Penthrox (the green whistle) during the procedure to reduce anxiety making the whole experience more pleasant.
Penthrox specifically can be very useful to reduce anxiety during regular periodontal maintenance appointments as it is very short acting, and very unlikely to affect the individual during the rest of their daily activities.