Oral Sedation

Oral sedation uses pills to deliver the sedative medications. Oral sedation is very effective to aid the patient through short, and non-invasive dental procedures.

The drug commonly used is called Halcion (triazolam is the generic name). This technique is commonly advertised as “oral conscious sedation” or “sedation dentistry” by other offices. The advantage of this technique is the ability to bring on amnesia of the dentistry performed in approximately 50% of the cases where it is used. Another advantage is the cost. However, there are disadvantages with oral sedation. The main disadvantage is that it is not a predictable sedation. Since the medications are administered orally, it is not possible to get a consistent level of sedation on every patient. In selecting any sedative method, the patient and the dentist must make the decision based on the length and difficulty of the dentistry to be performed. Some offices charge up to $350 for this procedure and call it “sleep dentistry”