Almost everyone who is scared of the dentist asks me the same

thing.

Can you just knock me out completely.

And when we actually talk about it, that is never what they

want.

Being completely knocked out is a hospital.

That is general anaesthetic.

There is a tube down your throat helping you breathe.

Nobody wants that for a filling.

What they want is oral sedation.

It is a tablet.

It goes under your tongue.

You are awake.

You are technically aware.

But you are loopy, you are relaxed, and you are not really

taking in what is happening.

It is an Ativan.

It is the same thing people take before they get on a

plane.

That is the whole thing.

It just calms your nerves.

We do not do laughing gas here.

We do not do IV sedation.

We do the tablet, because for most nervous patients that is the

one that is actually needed.

You will need someone to drive you home.

That is the main catch.

But if the reason you have not been in years is that

you cannot face being fully there for it,

at the end of the day, that reason has an answer.