- posted: Nov. 07, 2022
If my child is being sedated for dental work, does that mean that they don't need a shot?
Typically sedation for a child is not used to eliminate the need for a needle. The sedation is used to decrease or eliminate the anxiety/apprehension of a child before and during dental treatment. While the sedation does relax the child, it does not typically affect their ability to feel pain. For this reason, local anesthetic(the numbing injection) is still used even when a child is sedated. The goal is to eliminate anxiety using the sedation while pain control is managed by the local anesthetic. In some circumstances, dental treatment can be performed without shots, but this is highly contingent on the type of work, the length of work and the child's pain threshold. Discuss this with your dentist for further clarification.
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