Anaesthesia at the dentist | Anaesthesia for children

Anaesthesia at the dentist

Dental procedures are often painful and, especially for children, associated with fear. In order to create the best possible treatment conditions, sedation (anaesthesia) may be necessary. The child is given a sedative, but can still breathe on its own.

One way of sedating children at the dentist is to administer the sedative Midazolam (Dormicum). The effect of the drug reaches its peak about 20 minutes after administration. It has a strong anxiety-relieving and calming effect and makes the child a little tired.

It also causes the children not to remember the period of treatment afterwards. Throughout the entire period, the child is awake and responsive, yet there is constant monitoring. After the procedure, the child should stay in the dental office together with his parents until the medication has worn off.

Another possibility to sedate children during a dental procedure is nitrous oxide. Here too, the child is awake and responsive throughout the procedure. The child is put on a nasal mask through which he or she inhales a gas mixture of oxygen and laughing gas.

The laughing gas has a calming and anxiety-relieving effect. It relieves pain and makes the child feel euphoric and lose track of time. As a result, the use of an anaesthetic injection, for example, is much more likely to be accepted. You can find more detailed information about sedation in our appropriate article: Sedation – Everything you need to know

Costs for the anaesthesia at the dentist

At the dentist, most minor procedures are performed under local anesthesia (local anesthesia). However, since many children are very afraid of the treatment and younger children often cannot keep still long enough, dentists like to use general anesthesia. As a rule, health insurance companies cover the costs for this, provided that the children are under 12 years of age and the necessity of the anaesthesia can be medically justified. However, the conditions for cost coverage vary depending on the health insurance company. If in doubt, the dentist should ask the health insurance company for a cost estimate.