Patient Information

Anesthesia Options

For patient comfort we offer several different options to help during periodontal and implant therapy. All surgical procedures must include local anesthetic (“Novocaine”). There are countless different types of local anesthetic on the market today. This is opposed to the utilization of Novocaine “back in the day.” Novocaine is a specific type of local anesthetic that is not commonly used today. Other local anesthetics in the Novocaine family are effectively used. Many patients report being “allergic” to Novocaine and feel they cannot have local anesthetic. These patients commonly report that “my heart races and I get nervous and very jittery when I have Novocaine!” This is actually not an allergic reaction to local anesthetic. In dentistry we use epinephrine (also known as adrenaline) in local anesthetics for many reasons.

Epinephrine can increase the time that the local lasts. In surgery it also helps reduce bleeding. There are local anesthetics that we offer that do not have epinephrine in them. In addition to, but not in place of, local anesthetic, we offer Nitrous Oxide (“laughing gas”). This is a great way to “take the edge off” and help patients relax during periodontal work. Unfortunately there is minimal anesthetic in nitrous gas and local anesthesia (“shots”) is still required. Oral sedation is also available for our patients. Pills such as Valium for example are available upon request to help patients relax prior to the periodontal treatment. We also recommend for these cases that an additional pill is taken the evening before your surgery to help you get a good night sleep. Patients who receive either nitrous oxide and/or oral sedation need to have a ride to and from the office. These two forms of relaxation can be combined in certain cases.

Finally we offer Intravenous (IV) conscious sedation for our patients who request a more definitive sedation. As opposed to general anesthesia where you are put completely to sleep and need assisted breathing, IV sedation allows you to breathe on your own and respond to the doctors requests during treatment. Again a ride will have to be provided for the appointment, and there are a specific list of pre-operative instructions to follow if you are receiving conscious sedation. Dr. Ross received a certificate in IV conscious sedation following a mini residency he took at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. We may need clearance from your physician for any of the above mentioned anesthesia options.