Sedation in the oral and maxillofacial surgery office

The control of pain in dentistry is an expectation that patients have. With the administration of appropriate local anesthetics, most procedures can be accomplished without eliciting pain. However, the anxiety leading up to the procedure itself and the local anesthetic injection cause many patients to delay and avoid timely care, often leading to the need for more complex and emergent treatment. Even with a complete blockade of the pain from a surgical extraction of a tooth, the pressure and noises associated with the procedure makes it intolerable for many patients to consider the surgery without being "asleep."