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Sedation Dentistry
YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE AWAKE FOR THIS.
Sedation Dentistry in Sanford, FL - Sleep Through Your Treatment
Dr. George Mitrogogos performs IV, oral, and nitrous sedation in his own private dental office. The treatment you've been putting off - implants, crowns, root canals, fillings - can happen while you sleep. Often all of it, in one morning.
At Sanford Dental Excellence, not only can you have a comfortable, relaxing dental experience with sedation dentistry but you can also get multiple procedures done in a single appointment.
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6x Best of Sanford - Award Winning Dentist
4.9 Stars Across 1,000+ Google Reviews
IV Sedation Certified through the University of Alabama at Birmingham
Sedation Dentistry for People Who Have Been Avoiding the Dentist
Most people who call this office about sedation haven't seen a dentist in years. Not because they stopped caring - because a visit went badly once, or the sound alone is enough, or one appointment turned into six and at some point they just stopped going.
Then a tooth breaks. And now there's a list.
Sedation dentistry exists for exactly this.
The list doesn't have to be worked through one nervous appointment at a time - it can be handled while you're asleep, and for a lot of people in a single morning. Dr. Mitrogogos treats patients in Sanford who haven't sat in a dental chair in ten, fifteen, twenty years. It is the most ordinary thing that happens here.
NITROUS OXIDE, ORAL SEDATION & IV SEDATION
What is Sedation Dentistry?
Sedation dentistry is the use of medication to keep a patient calm, comfortable and largely unaware of time passing during dental treatment. It ranges from mild - a gas that takes the edge off - to deep enough that a three-hour appointment feels like a nap. A
At Sanford Dental Excellence, all three levels are administered in-office by Dr. George Mitrogogos, who is certified in IV sedation through the University of Alabama at Birmingham and credentialed by the Florida Board of Dentistry.
- Three levels are available - nitrous oxide, oral sedation, and IV sedation - chosen to fit the person, not the procedure.
- IV sedation is not general anesthesia. You breathe on your own the whole time. Heart rhythm, oxygen and heart rate are monitored continuously.
- Several procedures can be combined into one appointment - implants, crowns, root canals, fillings - up to about three and a half hours.
- Dr. Mitrogogos administers it himself, in this office. No referral to an oral surgeon, no outside anesthetist, no second appointment somewhere else.
- Your first IV sedation appointment is complimentary for new patients who move forward with treatment — a $750 value.
multiple treatments. one visit.
How Many Dental Procedures Can Be Done in One Sedation Visit?
Several dental treatments can be done in a single visit under sedation. Under IV sedation, Dr. Mitrogogos combines treatments such as implants, root canals, crowns, dentures, and fillings into a single appointment - treatment that would normally be split across four or five separate visits.
One recent patient had six procedures completed in about three hours. The practical limit is three and a half to four hours.
For many patients, this, rather than anxiety, is the real reason to choose sedation.
Recently, in this office:
A patient in her sixties came in carrying a treatment plan she'd been putting off. In one appointment:
- A root canal and a crown on one tooth
- Two dental implants placed
- Two fillings
About three hours, start to finish. She slept through all of it.
Broken into conventional appointments, that's four to six visits. Four to six drives to Sanford. Four to six mornings arranged around it - and four to six occasions to lie awake the night before. It became one appointment.
Is there a limit?
There is a limit when it comes to the number of treatments that can be completed under sedation:
"We normally don't like going more than about three and a half to four hours. That's about the max - because you start pushing a lot of medication there, and you want their [the patient] body to be able to clear it out." - Dr. Mitrogogos
Some treatment plans genuinely can't be finished in one sitting, and bone doesn't heal
Why Doing It In-House Changes the Arithmetic
Most general dentists who place implants don't administer IV sedation themselves. That leaves two options: bring an outside nurse anesthetist in, or send you elsewhere to be sedated and back again for the restorative work.
"A lot of them don't do IV sedation. So then they'll have to bring either a nurse anesthetist in, or send you somewhere else to get sedated - and then the cost on that is significant. Keeping it in-house, being able to do the sedation, being able to place the implants, and also knowing how to do the prosthetics - everybody likes keeping it under one roof." - Dr. Mitrogogos
The consultation, the sedation, the surgery and the restorative work are done by the same dentist, in the same building - with as many of the treatments as possible done in a single visit scheduled after your free consultation.
Find out what could be done in one visit.
A complete exam, X-rays, photos and a written treatment plan — no charge, no obligation to schedule anything.
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What are the Different Types of Dental Sedation?
There are three, and they differ in how deeply relaxed you get and how much you remember. Nitrous oxide takes the edge off. Oral sedation relaxes you deeply and erases the memory of the appointment. IV sedation is the deepest, and it's the one that makes long combined appointments possible.
Dr. Mitrogogos doesn't treat these as a menu with a default:
"It really depends on the person. We have to customize a sedation experience for each person." - Dr. Mitrogogos
Types of Dental Sedation
Nitrous Oxide
Oral Sedation
IV Sedation
How it's given
Gas, through a small nosepiece
One or two pills at the office
Through an IV line, adjusted continuously
How you feel
Comfortable, a little buzzed, more tolerant of discomfort
Deeply relaxed, often very sleepy
Asleep, in every way that matters to you
Will you remember it
Yes
Very little - the medication blocks the memory forming
No
Wears off
Within minutes
Several hours
Four to six hours of grogginess
Driver required
No
Yes
Yes
Best for
Mild nerves, shorter visits
Moderate anxiety; when IV isn't wanted or affordable
Real anxiety; long visits, or several procedures at once
What is Nitrous Oxide Sedation? (laughing gas)
The lightest option and the fastest to clear. It raises your tolerance for discomfort and makes the appointment feel shorter, but you stay fully aware and you'll remember it.
"The gas is the least. It kind of gets you a little high, gets you buzzed, you're comfortable. It increases your pain tolerance, so a lot of people love that. But it's for people that aren't really that anxious or that nervous. It just takes the edge off a little bit." - Dr. Mitrogogos
It's also the only one of the three you can have and still drive yourself home.
What is Oral Sedation?
One or two prescription pills taken at the office. You stay awake and responsive — but the medication causes retrograde amnesia, so the memory of the appointment never forms.
"You're still there, you still experience it, you're very calm, sometimes very, very sleepy — but you don't remember any of it. So you end up at home, you're like, 'What just happened?'" - Dr. Mitrogogos
Oral sedation is often combined with nitrous, which deepens the effect considerably. For patients who want a substantially calmer visit without the cost of IV, that combination works better than most people expect.
What is the Difference Between IV Sedation and Oral Sedation in Dentistry?
Delivery and control. Oral sedation is a fixed dose - you take the pills and the effect is whatever that dose produces. IV sedation runs through a line and is adjusted continuously during the appointment, so the depth can be increased or lightened at any moment in response to how you're doing.
That control is what makes IV the option for long, combined visits. For a single filling or moderate nerves, oral sedation is genuinely a good answer. For three hours and six procedures, it isn't.
What is IV Sedation Dentistry?
Medication goes in through a small line and is titrated throughout. Most patients have no memory of the appointment at all.
This is the deepest level of sedation dentistry. We offer it here at Sanford Dental Excellence and it's a reason patients drive to Sanford for it.
"The IV is kind of the best one, where you feel like you're almost completely out." - Dr. Mitrogogos
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