Not many of us would choose to have painful dental work performed, but instead of seeking out a dentist who has the ability to provide a dental experience without excruciating pain, most people make up excuses to avoid going to the dentist at all. Unfortunately, by skipping these appointments, poor oral hygiene can result – leading to heart disease, stroke and infection.

With so many high-tech tools, advanced training and pharmaceutical options available, many patients are able to experience nearly pain-free dental work in Stuart just by choosing the right dentist.

How can dental work be pain-free?

While pain-free and dental does not seem like it would go hand-in-hand, you’d be surprised at the number of excellent options for providing a dental experience without pain. Some include:

• Sedatives, local or general anesthesia. This has been a common method, in use for quite some time. By using oral and inhalation sedatives, the patient is virtually asleep during the procedure and doesn’t feel a thing.
• To lessen anxiety and help you relax for your appointment, the dentist may also prescribe an anti-anxiety or sedative medication to take at a pre-determined time.
• Waterlase is a laser-energy and water-spray process that works on everything from root canals to cavities. There is no vibration or pressure felt, and that horrible screeching sound a drill makes is not heard either.
• Instead of the pain of a sharp needle, there are now rub-on lidocaine creams available that will numb your gums before the needle goes in.
• With some in-depth dental procedures, a numbing drug is placed under the gum line with a blunt-tipped instrument and no needles are used at all.

How to choose a pain-free dentist

For pain-free dental work in Stuart, it’s important to do your homework. One of the easiest ways to find a dentist who can provide a pain-free experience is to ask your friends, family and colleagues for referrals.

You might also check the yellow pages and/or perform a search on Google for a dentist advertising pain-free services. Be sure to call the office and ask the receptionist questions to determine how comfortable you might feel going to each dentist.

Find out which type of sedation methods are used, if any. Some include nitrous oxide, better known as laughing gas, general anesthesia or IV injected sedation. It’s important that the person answering the phone is able and willing to answer any questions you have that might alleviate your fears, if he or she does not, you might want to cross that dentist off your list.

Some dentists even offer spa amenities that will not only make your visit less anxiety-ridden, it can even be fun!

Thankfully, finding pain-free dental work in Stuart may not be as hard as it once seemed.