“Is there an alternative to dental anesthesia?”

Tell your dentist you would like nitrous oxide. We have ways to help you not feel anxious, but you do need the anesthesia.

Dentistry is typically done with local anesthesia which is extremely safe and when administered properly can be completely painless. If you are concerned about “being put to sleep” for a more involved procedure, discuss your concerns with the one administering the medication. Many of the drugs used in dentistry to make you comfortable have a more profound effect on keeping you from remembering what happened then actually putting you “to sleep”. Even with wisdom tooth extraction, most patients will walk from the treatment room to the recovery area they just won’t remember doing so. There are those who have dental treatment without anesthesia and say it’s not that big of a deal. Not my personal recommendation but also not as uncommon as one would imagine.

Many patients will just take nitrous oxide, which helps you to relax and not care about what is happening. Depending on the procedure, that may work for you.

Getting numb is to prevent you from feeling pain and there are no alternatives other than not getting it and feeling pain.