Will you feel pain under IV (intravenous) sedation?

nope..you wont feel a thing. when i got my wisdom teeth out i was given general anesthesia and woke up after the whole thing was over.

i believe IV sedation and general anesthesia are two different things?

Why don’t you ask your dentist what to expect? There’s no better expert on the subject than the person who uses it all the time.

I did a really quick Google search and found a few good sites. It sounds like you won’t feel a thing.

If you aren’t CLEAR out, you should be in lala land enough to still have no pain. Plus, you’ll have novocaine there, won’t you?

They are two different things, but both knock you out.
I had three wisdom teeth removed under IV sedation, they still need to numb your mouth up with novacaine so you don’t wake up in severe pain. I didn’t feel anything during the procedure. Unfortunately for me, the novacaine didn’t work :(

Just to add, a dentist isn’t capable of general anesthesia at his office, you’d have to go to a hospital for that. I’ve never even heard of an oral surgeon with it at his office.

@casheroo a dentist may not, but i know oral surgeons do.

@swtsally That’s weird. I’ve been at multiple oral surgeons (I’ve had many teeth pulled over the years) and have never been offered general, and did request it once but they said they didn’t do that.

The biggest pain for me is the nausea afterwards. (I too know oral surgeons who will completely knock you out.

Here’s a link with info on IV sedation.
I know I had it for my wisdom teeth extraction, and it says you’re still able to respond, but I know it knocked me out completely. They had reassured me I’d be completely asleep and not alert to what was going on at all. Within ten seconds of the needle in my arm, I was out.
Ask your dentist if you’ll be alert at all. I know that was a huge concern of mine. Nitrous makes you not care, but you’re still awake, which makes me extremely paranoid. (huge fear of dentists)

I had Novocaine for my wisdom tooth extractions (all4atonceYAY!UGH!), but I’ve been under sedation for other operations. You’re out like a busted light bulb when they put you under. And they know how much to give you so you won’t be out for too long after the procedure is finished.

I had nitrous oxide and novacaine when I had my 4 wisdon teeth cut out and I was knocked out. I didn’t feel a or remember a thing.

I’ve been given Halcion in addition to local anesthetic for some dental work.

That was awesome. Best dentist visit ever, mainly b/c I don’t remember a thing of what went on. But you pretty much can’t drive to the dentist or for most of the rest of the day.

BTW… I’ve heard of patients under general anesthesia who have felt pain during surgery. Usually when they’re not far enough under… but no one else knows. I’ve also heard naturally red-haired people are more prone to this (but I don’t have an official source to cite).

It can be scary because a paralytic is typically employed along with the general anesthesia… so it’s possible to be awake and yet unable to move, speak, or even blink.

Personally, I have family history of that… so one thing I’d make effort to do is inform my surgeon & anesthesiologist of my background and also what my resting heartrate is typically, and anything else they think is relevant.

I had all 4 of mine out at once under general anesthesia. I didn’t feel a thing. The pain came later when the drugs wore off.

You may be like me – I have a redundant nerve system in my jaws. When the dentist knocks out nerves on one side with Novocain, I still feel pain because the signals go across to the other side. I need extra Novocain (on the other side) to block it.

I had to have some nonroutine oral surgery. My dentist, who performs routine procedures all the time, referred me to another dentist for this procedure, one who could in fact employ general anesthesia. This doctor discussed the types of anesthesia with me and asked me which I wanted. I said knock me out because I don’t want to hear anything. It cost me quite a lot extra, several hundred dollars, which was out of pocket because the insurance covered only the regular anesthesia, but it was totally worth it to me.

If done properly, you won’t feel or remember a thing, but @robmandu is correct, sometimes they don’t give you enough and you can’t respond to tell them so. Apparently there is technology to monitor your brain activity to determine if they’ve given you enough sedation, but not all places do that. Ask them to give you a dose of an anti-nausea drug before you wake up to help with the side effects of vomiting.

I had IV sedation when I got the first two pulled, and it did not knock me out. It was referred to as ‘twilight sleep’. It was a combination of Valium and Nitrous Oxide. I was super high, but awake. I felt no real pain, but it was very uncomfortable, and I panicked in the middle of the procedure. If I ever get up the nerve to have the other two taken out, I’m going for general anesthesia.
As a natural redhead, I’ll ask them to give me an extra strong dose!

ok thanks. i think i might get it done under IV sedation. And have a really long talk with the dentist before it happens. It seems pointless to ask all of you, but then again everyone might have different experiences with respect to IV sedation, so there. Thanks!

@mozartpena Good luck!

I had 4 wisdom teeth out in one shot under IV sedation. I remember counting back from 100. I got to 92. Then I woke up (not easily) with my mouth full of gauze and slept for the next day. You should talk to the dentist (or whoever will be administering the IV sedation) and let them know that you don’t want to remember anything. It all depends on how much they use (calculated by your body weight) and how quickly your body metabolizes it. Good luck.

Thanks guys. I had it under a different dentist who was experienced in dental surgery. She was great! The only painful thing was the pre-surgery (the injection of anesthetics) and post-surgery (when the anesthesia wears off). The price was 3x more expensive but it was worth it.