Dental treatment under anaesthesia

Anaesthesia and sedation in dental care, for whom and for what?
It may not be possible to treat a tooth by the usual method without causing the patient an intolerable amount of discomfort. In such cases, the treatment and extraction of teeth under general anaesthesia is helpful.
During general anaesthesia, the patient is asleep, with sensors monitoring his or her health, and the anaesthetist and nurse anaesthetist are present to monitor the situation. During anaesthesia, the pain receptors are switched off, so the person cannot feel pain.
In addition, general anaesthesia is a good way to spare your body the stress that would accompany traumatic procedures. It is also necessary in cases of severe vomiting, when anaesthetic solutions are not effective, and in cases of jaw pain when the mouth does not open sufficiently. This is why many patients wish to use general anaesthesia, for example, when all the wisdom teeth need to be removed. Removing teeth one by one is inevitably more time-consuming and more painful, as each tooth removal is followed by a new recovery process. In contrast, under general anaesthesia, the patient feels no discomfort or pain during the tooth extraction and recovers more quickly overall. Also, for patients who need to have many implants placed at the same time, especially from the patient’s point of view, the whole process is quicker and less stressful, and they feel better after the procedure.

Sedation is a method whereby drugs are administered to the patient intravenously to induce drowsiness, calm and reduce anxiety and block pain sensation. The patient is conscious and able to communicate. The sedated patient breathes on their own. Throughout the procedure, the anaesthetist and the nurse anaesthetist monitor the patient’s vital signs – pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate, blood oxygen level.

Anaesthesia is necessary for children, who are often reluctant to cooperate with dental treatment. Also children with special needs and children with severe vomiting reflexes and multiple caries.
It is a great pleasure to see children in our work who we have been able to save from toothache and give back a happy mind. As the child grows up, at some point he or she will surely have his or her teeth repaired in the normal way and will be able to enter life with healthy teeth.

After anaesthesia, patients may experience mild nausea, a change in blood pressure or nervous and muscular tension. Children usually sleep after anaesthesia and wake up happy and active again.

For anaesthesia and sedation procedures, you can come directly to our clinic or your doctor will give you a referral.

Our consultants for sedation patients and anaesthesia paediatric patients are Dr. Evelyn Ilves, Dr. Raili Luikmel, Dr. Katrin Piirsalu, Dr. Karin Saarnak, Dr. Grethen Teppan.