720-248-9770
While we try our best to help our young patients through their dental treatment here in our office, there are some situations in which general anesthesia provides the safest and most effective route for completing their treatment. General Anesthesia involves the utilization of a separate anesthesia provider, or team of providers, to administer medications that will put the patient to sleep in order to complete their dental treatment. Indications for general anesthesia include:
- Multiple areas of treatment needs on a young patient that is not behaviorally ready to undergo treatment in a routine office setting
- Patients for whom the use of general anesthesia may protect the developing psyche or reduce medical risk
- Patients requiring immediate, comprehensive dental care
- Some patients with special healthcare needs
One of the benefits to having dental treatment completed under general anesthesia is the experience from the child’s perspective. A “mask induction” is traditionally used in healthy pediatric patients, which involves an anesthesia provider allowing the child to inhale the medications used to put them to sleep through a soft, cushioned mask. This helps the child’s experience of the procedure to be as simple as breathing in some air through a mask, taking a nap and waking up with their treatment completed. Another benefit to utilizing general anesthesia in pediatric dentistry is the limiting of movement during the procedure, which allows for optimized quality of care to be delivered.
If general anesthesia is the appropriate route for completing your child’s dental treatment, Dr. Landon Heckman and our team will discuss with you the options available at your child’s initial evaluation appointment. We currently provide “office-based” general anesthesia as well as “hospital-based” general anesthesia at Children’s Hospital Colorado.
If you want to discuss any questions or concerns regarding general anesthesia in Denver, Colorado, with our dentist, Dr. Landon, please do not hesitate to call us at 720-248-9770.