The OPTISMILE Podcast 52 – Oral Sedation vs Conscious Sedation
OPTISMILE Podcast 52
Sedation Dentistry – Oral Sedation vs Conscious Sedation
Chapter 1: Episode Introduction and Focus (0:05 – 0:47)
The episode opens with a warm welcome as Eon Engelbrecht introduces the podcast, setting the stage for a deep dive into sedation dentistry. Listeners are informed that the discussion will provide expert advice on both improving dental aesthetics and protecting financial interests—a valuable insight for anyone looking for a trusted Dentist in Cape Town.
Chapter 2: Addressing Dental Anxiety and a Memorable Movie (0:47 – 2:08)
Dr Clifford Yudelman recounts his personal experience with dental anxiety by sharing a humorous yet vivid reference to the film Marathon Man (1976). He explains how the intense torture scenes in the movie relate to common fears such as dentophobia and odontophobia. This relatable narrative builds rapport with listeners, especially those in Cape Town facing dental anxiety.
Chapter 3: Clarifying Sedation Methods – Oral vs. Conscious Sedation (2:26 – 5:25)
Dr Yudelman explains the key differences between oral and conscious sedation. Oral sedation, involving a pill that relaxes without completely knocking you out, contrasts with conscious (IV) sedation, which an anaesthetist administers to provide a deeper state of relaxation. The detailed explanation ensures listeners understand the safety protocols—vital for patients seeking advanced sedation dentistry in Cape Town.
Chapter 4: Legal Considerations and Early Experiences with IV Sedation (5:25 – 5:36)
The discussion touches on the historical practice of IV sedation in London during the early 80s. Dr Yudelman shares anecdotes about using a vial of Valium on nervous patients, highlighting how safety regulations have since become much stricter worldwide. This background offers valuable context for those curious about evolving dental sedation practices.
Chapter 5: Benefits of Sedation for Different Patient Needs (5:28 – 11:42)
This segment explores who stands to benefit most from sedation dentistry. Dr Yudelman notes that aside from easing extreme dental fear, sedation is ideal for patients with a strong gag reflex or those requiring multiple procedures in one session. He explains that even if he personally isn’t overly afraid of the dentist, sedation can make complex treatments more tolerable—a key point for anyone considering cosmetic or restorative dentistry in Cape Town.
Chapter 6: An Overview of Nitrous Oxide (Happy Gas) (11:43 – 12:01)
Dr Yudelman briefly discusses the use of nitrous oxide, commonly known as happy gas. Although popular in some practices, he explains why OptiSmile opts not to use it, preferring oral sedation methods. This offers listeners an alternative perspective on sedation options available in Cape Town dental care.
Chapter 7: Ensuring Patient Safety During Sedation (12:01 – 14:48)
In this chapter, the emphasis is on safety. Dr Yudelman details how anaesthetists monitor vital signs such as blood pressure and oxygen levels throughout the procedure. The role of properly trained professionals and the use of emergency protocols are underscored, reassuring listeners that sedation dentistry is safely managed at advanced practices like OptiSmile.
Chapter 8: The Process of Oral Sedation Explained (14:49 – 17:51)
Dr Yudelman provides a thorough explanation of the oral sedation process. Using a sedative like Xanax (Alprazolam), he details dosing (typically a quarter of a milligram) and the benefits of this approach. The conversation covers how oral sedation allows patients to remain responsive, ensuring they can still communicate during treatment—a must-know for anyone considering minimally invasive sedation dentistry.
Chapter 9: Timing and Practical Guidelines for Taking Sedation (17:52 – 18:01)
This very brief chapter gives practical advice on when to take oral sedation—usually about an hour before the appointment on an empty stomach. The guidance includes the importance of not driving and having a designated driver, ensuring that listeners know how to prepare correctly for a safe dental visit in Cape Town.
Chapter 10: Preparation and Restrictions for a Safe Sedation Experience (18:01 – 20:56)
Dr Yudelman outlines additional practical tips for patients: taking medication as instructed, avoiding alcohol before and after the procedure, and ensuring proper planning for transportation. These clear instructions help patients in Cape Town prepare for a stress-free sedation experience and safeguard their health during dental treatments.
Chapter 11: Recovery Process and Managing Side Effects (21:11 – 23:38)
The recovery phase is explained in detail. Dr Yudelman describes how most patients recover within 20 minutes post-sedation and highlights that side effects like mild drowsiness are common yet manageable. The discussion reassures listeners that serious complications are rare when protocols are followed, providing confidence for anyone new to sedation dentistry.
Chapter 12: The Impact of Combined Procedures on Cost and Efficiency (23:40 – 27:19)
In this segment, the benefits of combining multiple dental procedures under sedation are discussed. Dr Yudelman explains how performing several treatments in one session can reduce overall treatment time and cost. This efficient approach is particularly appealing for busy individuals in Cape Town who seek comprehensive cosmetic and restorative dental care without multiple appointments.
Chapter 13: Discussion on General Anaesthetic and Its Alternatives (27:29 – 29:53)
Dr Yudelman briefly touches upon cases that require general anaesthesia, such as major jaw surgeries or the removal of multiple wisdom teeth. He clarifies that general anaesthesia is a separate process and is typically performed in a hospital setting. This chapter helps distinguish sedation dentistry from more invasive surgical procedures, providing clarity for patients exploring their options.
Chapter 14: Final Remarks and Closing Thoughts (29:53 – 32:31)
In the concluding chapters, both hosts wrap up the discussion. Dr Yudelman expresses gratitude and looks forward to the next podcast, where stress-free dental visit tips will be explored. Eon Engelbrecht reinforces the promise of expert dental care from OptiSmile, summarising the episode’s key points and encouraging listeners to seek further expert insights—ensuring that Cape Town residents are well-informed about their dental options.
Sedation Dentistry – Oral Sedation vs Conscious Sedation
Full transcript
[Eon Engelbrecht – E-Radio-SA] (0:05 – 0:47)
Welcome again to Save Your Money, Save Your Teeth, the go-to podcast where curiosity meets dentistry straight from the experts. I’m Eon, and I’m joined once again by Dr Clifford Yudelman from OptiSmile, ready to take a deep dive into the world of dental care from a consumer’s perspective. Whether you’re looking to brighten your smile or protect your wallet, we’ve got you covered with practical advice and the latest insights.
So stick around with us for the next couple of minutes as we uncover the secrets to maintaining both your dental health and also your finances very importantly. Dr Clifford Yudelman, welcome back once again.
[Dr Clifford Yudelman – OptiSmile] (0:47 – 1:48)
Thanks, thanks for having me back. I hope you had a nice relaxing week and if you went to the dentist, you found our tips from last week came in handy, like breathing through your nose and telling the dentist how poop-scared you are, things like that. And before we kick off today, I’ve had a whole week to think about the name of that movie that I mentioned where the guy gets tortured, and I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen it.
I don’t recommend it because it could put you off with the dentist forever, but it was 1976. I’m giving away my age. I was 16 when that movie came out, and it was called Marathon Man, and it was with Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier. Yeah, I think most people, anyone listening to this will know exactly what I’m talking about. The torture scene and so on was horrific.
[Eon Engelbrecht – E-Radio-SA] (1:48 – 1:54)
Yeah, that’s one movie I certainly won’t be seeing even if it’s black and white though. No, thanks.
[Dr Clifford Yudelman – OptiSmile] (1:55 – 2:01)
It was black and white and the scariest movie I’ve seen.
[Eon Engelbrecht – E-Radio-SA] (2:02 – 2:08)
No wonder the people are so traumatised and have dentophobia and odontophobia and all that kind of stuff.
[Dr Clifford Yudelman – OptiSmile] (2:11 – 2:21)
Odontophobia, that’s a good one. Yes, yes. For the people with odontophobia, let’s talk about how we fix it with sedation, oral sedation versus conscious sedation.
[Eon Engelbrecht – E-Radio-SA] (2:22 – 2:26)
Could you start, Dr Yudelman, by explaining to us the main difference between the two?
[Dr Clifford Yudelman – OptiSmile] (2:26 – 5:25)
So one of them, conscious sedation, is IV or intravenous sedation. Oral sedation usually involves taking a pill that helps you relax but doesn’t fully knock you out. Conscious sedation is an IV which allows you a deeper state of relaxation and it’s administered by an anaesthetist in our practice with full safety. They bring all their safety. It’s as if you’re in a hospital. There are dentists that will do IV sedation. I don’t even know if it’s legal to do it on a patient if you’re also the one doing the treatment. I don’t think it is legal but don’t quote me on that. We used to do that when I worked in London on Fridays. We used to pull out a vial of Valium and suck it up into a syringe and all the nervous patients would come in on a Friday and we’d just stick some in your arm and we’d just watch until your eyelids got all heavy and then you’d give a thumbs up and we’d get going. That was the early 80s for you. Now they’re very strict in the UK and all over the world because obviously you need it to be done by a qualified professional. If you’re listening to this, I hope I didn’t scare you but also if you’re listening to this and you heard of a dentist that does do sedation and works on you, just check it out. I don’t recommend it. There should be someone monitoring you with all the proper kit. They use an oxygen metre that goes on your finger. They’ve got all the resuscitation and other drugs there should you get too sedated and they really know what they’re doing. They normally, anaesthetists that will put people to sleep completely for operations. For them to do an IV sedation or a conscious sedation is really easy. You’re actually awake but you don’t remember anything afterwards. If the dentist says, “Move your head to the left” or “Open your mouth”, you’re listening but you don’t remember.
[Eon Engelbrecht – E-Radio-SA] (5:28 – 5:36)
Who would you say benefits the most from sedation dentistry? Is it for people with extreme fear or can it help others too?
[Dr Clifford Yudelman – OptiSmile] (5:37 – 11:42)
Well, I was going to joke but it’s not funny. I was going to say that the dentist benefits because when the patient’s very nervous, it makes the dentist very jumpy as well. It’s not just for extreme fear. Sedation also helps if you have a strong gag reflex. We mentioned something about gag reflex last time. I’ve had patients with severe gag reflexes and over time, I’ve studied that and I’ve looked up but something I’ve found is whenever I ask those patients, “Have you ever been dumped by a wave?” I think you would know; you call it like a washing machine when you get tumbled under the water and you feel like you’re drowning. A lot of body surfers and surfers have had that experience near the coast. That can lead to a severe gag reflex if you felt like you were drowning at any point. People who’ve actually been assaulted or choked, people who’ve done martial arts or wrestling or who’ve actually choked on a piece of meat and someone had to do the Heimlich, they don’t associate that with a dentist. Sometimes that gag reflex comes from being in a situation where it was a fight or flight. You got severe adrenaline. You thought you were dying. You couldn’t breathe and you get this really overreactive subconscious thing. I’ve never had anyone that’s gagging actually vomit. They can start choking and they start pushing you away and lashing out and it’s more just protecting the airway. It’s got nothing to do with what’s in your stomach. It’s nothing to do with vomiting. It’s more, that’s where something like Xanor for a gag reflex can work for people. A lot of the time, they get then a second fear which is fear of vomiting on the dentist or fear of having to stop the dentist—which we spoke about last week. That’s important to know: you can stop the dentist anytime. For some people, they need multiple complex procedures in one go or they need things that are unpleasant if you’re awake—like if you need two or three extractions and then you need implants placed. Me, personally, I’m not that scared. I’m a little bit scared of the dentist, to be honest. I have actually found—I was scrambling around looking in drawers and found an expired Xanor and took it before a dental appointment. I was going for a root canal. I subsequently had root canals and inlays done without sedation but I don’t enjoy the dentist, which is why maybe I’m a little bit kinder to patients that are nervous. But having said that, the reason why I was going down that little rabbit hole is if I needed a tooth out for some reason and then I needed an implant placed, I would definitely go for heavy sedation, even conscious sedation with an anaesthetist. They can do a colonoscopy—which is where you get a camera up your backside. They can do that while you’re wide awake. Apparently, it’s not painful and it’s not pleasant, or apparently people have had it awake and it’s not that uncomfortable but just the thought of that and having to experience that—I’ve had several colonoscopies. I’m 64 and I was always under conscious sedation. I don’t remember any camera going anywhere. Let’s put it that way. It’s like if there’s something going to happen that’s unpleasant, you don’t have to be dreadfully scared to opt for sedation. It can increase the cost of your visit. I believe it’s about $3,500 for the first half hour of sedation. That’s for the anaesthetist to come out and bring all his kit and put the sedation in and then there’s obviously a much smaller cost per extra half hour after that just for him to sit there and to be there to wake you up, which is important. But like a two-hour sedation—if you call OptiSmile, we can tell you what sedation costs—but if you’re getting two implants placed and three crowns and you’re going to be asleep or unconscious for two and a half hours, it goes so much quicker if you are nervous. Once you’re sedated, the dentist can get going and do your treatment really without having to stop all the time and check how you’re doing and so on, and it’s all about easing the process for patients who might otherwise avoid necessary care. I’m not promoting sedation for everybody. Something we haven’t mentioned is happy gas or laughing gas. It was at one time very, very popular. There was a movie, Little Shop of Horrors, that was a comedy and the dentist was the one taking the gas all the time. When I practised in Australia, I worked in a practice for a while that used a lot of happy gas and the place—you could just smell the happy gas—and it’s something I don’t like to do. There are dentists who use it and it works very well, but because we don’t use it at OptiSmile, it’s not something I’m talking about. But that’s called relative analgesia and what’s nice about that is you put it on over the patient’s nose, they breathe it in and out and it makes them very relaxed. You still got to numb them and everything but when you’re done, you turn up the oxygen, you turn off the nitrous oxide and it’s completely out of their system. They can drive, they can walk, they can talk. If they’re going out with their friends, they can have a drink. I believe—I haven’t done it in a long time but I don’t know—but that also works well. We just don’t do it at OptiSmile for a number of reasons which I won’t go into now.
[Eon Engelbrecht – E-Radio-SA] (11:43 – 12:01)
Okay, but you mentioned that while you are under sedation, obviously your vitals are being monitored as well. So for those who are worried about the safety of it all, how do you ensure a patient remains safe and stable under sedation?
[Dr Clifford Yudelman – OptiSmile] (12:01 – 14:48)
Yeah, so look, patient safety is paramount. Not only us but the anaesthetist will review the medical history, current medications, they’ll check your blood pressure. If you have got medical problems, they will always speak to your specialist physician or your cardiologist or your pulmonologist or whoever it is that’s looking after you. During the procedure, when I say we monitor vital signs, I mean the anaesthetist—blood pressure, oxygen levels—everything is watched throughout and having a qualified anaesthetist and emergency protocols in place is essential. These are highly qualified. We don’t just use any anaesthetist. There are special anaesthetists that come highly recommended. We’ve worked at OptiSmile. We’ve been doing sedation for 10 years and we’ve had some anaesthetists that the dentists weren’t happy with and obviously we don’t invite them back. We’ve got a number of different anaesthetists and there’s even anaesthetist services. So if you go to a dentist that doesn’t have an anaesthetist, they could get on one of their WhatsApp groups and ask other dentists, “Hey, do you guys know who can come and do sedation?” But having said that, not all dentists like to work under sedation. So myself, personally, if I have a patient at OptiSmile that wants an anaesthetist or needs an anaesthetist, it’s generally for implants or extractions or root canals. I personally don’t do any of those procedures. I do a lot of the cosmetic work and so on. But the other dentists in the practice, the prosthodontists and my other associates, we may be doing one or two sedations a week for patients and it’s quite common for us to do that. But I personally don’t do any work under sedation. Since the 80s, since my experience with doing sedations myself, pretty much I went through the nitrous oxide route for patients and then after that, I use Xanor, Xanax oral sedation for patients. I don’t even like to give patients stronger things like Dormicum or Valium. I like the patients to be awake and responsive and to have that two-way communication. So if you put your dentist under pressure to bring an anaesthetist in and the anaesthetist comes in and knocks you out and then the dentists themselves don’t have experience working properly under sedation, that might not be such a good thing. That just came to mind. I wasn’t planning on saying that, but that’s the truth right there.
[Eon Engelbrecht – E-Radio-SA] (14:49 – 14:57)
Doctor, what does the sedation process look like for someone who’s never experienced it before? Could you maybe walk us through the typical steps?
[Dr Clifford Yudelman – OptiSmile] (14:58 – 17:51)
Yeah. So as I mentioned before, oral sedation is really easy. So something like Alprazolam, which is Xanax or Xanor. There’s some other names for it in South Africa—Alzam, I think they call it. That’s a very safe, it’s a benzodiazepine, which is a sedative. It’s in the sort of Valium and Dormicum family, but it’s much shorter acting. It’s a very safe sedation—even if you took four of them, which I don’t recommend, but we prescribe 0.25 of a milligramme, a quarter of a milligramme. You could take a whole milligramme and as long as you don’t have any alcohol, you’ll still be walking and talking, but you’d be pretty out of it. You’ll be acting like you had a few glasses of champagne, but you might be the life of the party, but you’re not going to make a complete idiot of yourself. You’ll still have control. Whereas with something like Dormicum or Valium, it’s like a bit of a fine line. A lot of the time the patients are just falling all over the place and they can’t speak and they can—yeah, I don’t enjoy that to be honest. They can be like, they can start falling—you’re trying to work on them and then it’s almost like they’re at the level of intravenous sedation and you get to a point where you really need to monitor the oxygen and have safety equipment around. Taking pills, yeah, it’s easier, but you’ve got to be careful. If you go to the dentist and he gives you oral sedation and you don’t remember a thing, then you are way too deep. You should have an anaesthetist there that could reverse it. You got to drip you up and so on. That takes me to the next step. The main thing for oral sedation is just that you feel relaxed and that it takes the edge off and it does make things go a bit quicker. The oral sedation, it’s just to make you feel relaxed and take the edge off. It’s not to knock you out completely. But now for IV sedation, an anaesthetist is vital. They set up an IV line at the clinic, an intravenous line. They put a little butterfly near your wrist or in your vein. I’m sure most people have had some kind of anaesthetic or sedation before. Yeah, you become calm, semi-drowsy, but you typically remain responsive to instructions and you still get numb. The dentist still has to numb you up. At OptiSmile, we use the wand even if someone is sedated. It’s just a more gentle way of numbing people. With the intravenous sedation, the anaesthetist then reverses it and can wake you up in seconds.
[Eon Engelbrecht – E-Radio-SA] (17:52 – 18:01)
Okay. With oral sedation, how soon before the appointment should the patient take the medication? Also, what restrictions should they follow?
[Dr Clifford Yudelman – OptiSmile] (18:01 – 20:56)
Usually an hour before. We recommend on an empty stomach. That works better. I recommend you wake up, take your little quarter of a Xanor, have breakfast, come on over—you don’t drive. You need someone to drive you just from a legal point of view. With very light sedation, people often feel like they’re able to walk and catch an Uber or get on a bus. I tell them to be careful you don’t walk into a pole or something, but you’re pretty okay. I tell them to avoid any alcohol afterwards because even though you feel like it’s not working, if you go straight off to the dentist and you’ve had a Xanor a couple of hours before, you really shouldn’t drink. Benzodiazepines, Valium, Dormicum, Xanor don’t mix well with alcohol at all. It’s not like one and one is two—it’s like it multiplies it. It’s really not advised. Oral sedation is really simple. Like I said earlier, if someone’s very nervous, they can take one the night before. If they feel like it’s still not working by the time they get there, they’re still very nervous. Or maybe it’s a bigger person—the body weight to the dosage wasn’t quite right. They can take another one. If they’re really nervous and they take another two, it doesn’t make a big difference. Xanor is a very sort of, it’s not going to knock you out or kill you. It’s a very easy medication for people to take. I don’t prescribe 10 or 20 at a time. I’ll usually prescribe two or three. All these benzodiazepines can be addictive. With Xanor, I believe it’s much less addictive. Whereas if you prescribe Valium or Dormicum for a patient and then they come in and they did one before and then one after and they got another appointment, they come back and it’s like, “Oh, I don’t know what happened to the rest of the prescription.” What happened is the next day they felt like, “Oh, I really liked the feeling of that Valium.” After just two or three days of being on Valium, you can actually become addicted. It’s a very addictive drug. I don’t really like prescribing that for patients. I’m very careful when I prescribe Xanor that I don’t, just for their own protection, leave them with too many tablets, or that they only have one for when they go on an aeroplane or something. A lot of dentists have gotten into trouble. I believe a lot of these rock stars over the years that have died from overdoses and so on, a lot of the time it’s not the doctor, but it was the dentist that was supplying them with their drugs, which is kind of crazy. They should maybe make a movie about that.
[Eon Engelbrecht – E-Radio-SA] (20:56 – 21:10)
You’re hectic. I must be honest with you, Dr Yudelman, conscious sedation sounds a bit more intense. Are patients actually still awake and able to respond? How quickly do they recover?
[Dr Clifford Yudelman – OptiSmile] (21:11 – 23:38)
The great thing about using an anaesthetist that’s used to working with dentists is they know that we don’t like the patients to be too deeply relaxed—that they keep them right on the edge where the patient, for all intents and purposes, if you walked into the room, you might not even notice that the patient was sedated. They can even have their eyes open. If you say, “Put your head to the left”, they don’t take more than a few seconds to move. You say, “Open, close, bite.” They follow instructions. The recovery varies. Sometimes if the patient is not that cooperative, then they’ll make them a bit deeper or, depending on the actual procedure, if it’s something like an extraction, they’ll make them more deeply sedated during the process of the actual extraction, but while they’re getting numb and after the extraction, if they’re getting sutures or anything like that, they lighten it. They can adjust it minute by minute. Then when they turn off the medication and they reverse it, most people—within 20 minutes—they’re up, they’re walking, they’re smiling. They’re always smiling for some reason. We always make sure someone meets them. As soon as the procedure is finished, the husband or wife or the parent will come into the room and it literally takes seconds. They’re like, “Oh, we’re done.” Then we don’t get them up and walking right away, but we start cleaning up the room and put everything away. If they had surgery, you don’t want them to wake up and there’s all these instruments around. It’s scary. A lot of the time, they don’t even remember getting home. It affects your memory a bit, but there’s no after effect. It’s called retrograde amnesia, I believe, where it actually works in reverse. It just knocks out that part of your brain. You think you had a wonderful time. Each time you come, it works better and better. Some patients, I think, enjoy the anaesthetist too much. They’re done with all their treatment and then they’re like, “Oh, so when are we doing that other root canal?” It’s like, “No, you’re done. Are you sure I don’t need any more root canals?”
[Eon Engelbrecht – E-Radio-SA] (23:40 – 23:53)
It’s that good. Also, for those concerned, Dr Yudelman, what are the main risks or side effects of sedation and how are they managed in a dental setting?
[Dr Clifford Yudelman – OptiSmile] (23:53 – 25:16)
Common side effects might be nausea, dizziness, or prolonged drowsiness. Serious complications are rare when all the protocols are followed. We manage this by carefully monitoring the patient and having them rest until it’s safe to leave. At OptiSmile, these common side effects are not common. This is common in the literature or common depending on where you’re going. That’s where having a properly dentally trained anaesthetist that’s experienced with working with dentists comes in. Serious complications are rare when all the protocols are followed. We manage these by carefully monitoring the patient and having them rest until it’s safe to leave. We always recommend dental-experienced anaesthetists. One of these anaesthetist groups has people that have worked with a lot of dentists so they don’t put them too deep. They also generally work with doctors that do short, less invasive procedures like colonoscopies and very short procedures. They’re used to keeping people very light. Obviously, the deeper you are, if you’re getting close to general anaesthetic sedation, then there’s more side effects or after effects.
[Eon Engelbrecht – E-Radio-SA] (25:16 – 25:27)
Alright. Then for those wondering about feeling groggy or worried about it, feeling out of control perhaps, how do you address these concerns beforehand?
[Dr Clifford Yudelman – OptiSmile] (25:27 – 25:41)
We spend time explaining the process and answering questions. We also assure patients that they will be in a safe, controlled environment with trained professionals. That knowledge alone helps to reduce anxiety.
[Eon Engelbrecht – E-Radio-SA] (25:42 – 25:51)
From a cost perspective, is sedation dentistry significantly more expensive? How should patients plan for that, doctor?
[Dr Clifford Yudelman – OptiSmile] (25:51 – 27:19)
We did broach that earlier. It does add to the treatment cost because you’re paying for the sedationist’s time and expertise. In the case of OptiSmile, that’s a fully trained anaesthetist. I encourage patients to factor it in as a part of their overall treatment plan if they truly need intravenous sedation to proceed. At OptiSmile, when we perform more procedures in one visit, I mentioned about doing a quadrant or doing like an upper and lower left and then a second visit where we do upper and lower right. Whether you sedate it or not, we often will give patients a 10% or 15% discount on procedures that are done together because it makes it much quicker and less expensive time-wise and material-wise and set-up and so on. That cost saving is passed on to the patient. In some cases, that might even pay for having the sedationist there because if you’re getting two or three crowns or two or three implants and some extractions and it’s all done in one visit while you’re out, say, you’re out for an hour and a half or two hours or something, the savings in doing all that treatment in one rather than coming back for two, three or four appointments, that saving is passed on to the patient. You come out even in many cases, if not better.
[Eon Engelbrecht – E-Radio-SA] (27:20 – 27:29)
Then finally, if someone’s on the fence about sedation, what factors should they consider to decide if it’s actually the right choice?
[Dr Clifford Yudelman – OptiSmile] (27:29 – 29:53)
They should consider their anxiety level, the complexity of the procedure, how much they can tolerate in a single session, and their medical history. A detailed chat with a dentist is the key to finding or deciding if sedation is their best route. Oral sedation, it’s something you can try. I did get into quite a bit of detail about our preferred method. I know we always put a disclaimer at the end of every one of our podcasts, but I just want to say myself here that all of this advice, especially when it’s now coming to things like sedation and taking drugs and what to prescribe, that’s all my own personal experience with over 42 years of experience on four continents and having gone through everything from giving people a jab in the vein with Valium back in London in the day in the US—when I was using and got more into giving oral sedation like Xanor. In Australia, I was using Xanor, but also nitrous oxide, which we touched on. And we also would have in the practice—not myself, but an anaesthetist—that would do certain cases. And for very complex things or things that are going to really be done, we haven’t even spoken about general anaesthetic. So there are cases like if someone needs four wisdom teeth out, or you need like a major jaw surgery, we refer you to an oral surgeon and that’s done in the hospital under full general anaesthesia, because then you don’t need numbing. So they knock you out, they take out your wisdom teeth, they give you painkillers, and then they wake you up. And it’s a different type of procedure. We haven’t really covered general anaesthetic, but that’s a completely different thing for things like wisdom teeth. There are dentists that will go and do general anaesthetic in the hospital, but the level of equipment and so on for doing fillings and crowns and implants, it’s not the same. And because it’s not something that we offer at OptiSmile, it’s not something that I’m going to cover here. So I hope that all helps.
[Eon Engelbrecht – E-Radio-SA] (29:53 – 30:04)
Dr Yudelman, thank you so much. Another great and very reassuring podcast of Save Your Money, Save Your Teeth for this week. Looking forward to our next one next week.
[Dr Clifford Yudelman – OptiSmile] (30:05 – 30:36)
Yeah, myself as well. And the last one in the series next week is how to prepare for a stress-free visit. So tune in next week and looking forward to giving some general tips for people that don’t need sedation or don’t need intravenous or oral sedation, just how to make your trips less stressful. So your trips to the dentist less stressful. So looking forward to sharing that next week.
[Eon Engelbrecht – E-Radio-SA] (30:36 – 31:25)
And we hope that to you listening that you’re feeling a bit better about dentists now. And as I say, knowledge is wisdom and power. But that’s it from myself and Dr Yudelman today on the podcast, Save Your Money, Save Your Teeth. Also remember, while we strive to provide valuable insights, always consult with your own dental professional for advice tailored to your personal health. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast for more enlightening discussions, and join us again next week as we continue to explore the fascinating intersection of dental health and also financial savvy. Yeah, that’s exactly what you can look forward to in our next podcast. Until then, keep smiling and taking great care of your teeth.
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Disclaimer: The content provided in this podcast, “Save Your Money Save Your Teeth” on Medical Mondays, is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to serve as dental or medical advice. The insights and opinions expressed by Dr. Clifford Yudelman and any guests are designed to foster a better understanding of dental health, preventive measures, and general well-being, but should not be interpreted as professional dental or medical recommendations. Dr. Clifford Yudelman does not diagnose, treat, or offer prevention strategies for any health conditions directly through this podcast. This platform is not a substitute for the personalized care and advice provided by a licensed dental or healthcare professional. We strongly encourage our listeners to consult with their own dental care providers to address individual dental health needs and concerns. The information shared here aims to empower listeners with knowledge about dental health but must not be used as a basis for making health-related decisions without professional guidance. Your dental care provider is the best source of advice about your dental and overall health. Please always seek the advice of your dentist or other qualified health professionals regarding any questions or concerns about your dental health.