Modern health care has been spectacular in the last 100 years.  Modern antibiotics (penicillin) was not available until around WW II. This fact sometimes lulls us into a false sense of security that what ever happens we are just a “pill” away from a cure.  In addition, most of the time, we believe that pain or discomfort is an absolute sign that some pathology or disease is going on.  This is true for the vast majority of life’s illnesses except for the “silent illnesses”.  Dental disease, like certain types cancers have minor or no symptoms until the disease has progressed significantly.  In the dental field when the patient complains of pain… in many instances… we may be looking at a root canal or extracting the tooth.  Our Highlands Ranch dentists, Dr. James DeLapp and Dr. H. Candace DeLapp provide general dentistry to their patients living in the southeast corridor of the Denver Metro area.  Dental patients come from Ken Caryl, Lone Tree, Castle Pines, Douglas County, Parker, Greenwood Village, and Denver Colorado.

to view our dental practice video click the following link Denver dentist

Our Highlands Ranch and Denver dentists have seen over the last week several patients who have delayed dental treatment.  The reason given include:

• Severe dental anxiety
• Financial problems
• Time issues… their life is just too busy
• It does not bother me… it does not hurt
• Other

Currently, our Highlands Ranch dentists are treating a dental phobic whose dental treatment went from a couple thousand dollars to 11 thousand dollars.  Delaying treatment was not in the patient’s best interest.  What can we do?

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Candidates for dental sedation. Many Highlands Ranch dental patients have a strong aversion to the dentist and dental treatment in general. It appears that dental anxiety is the most likely culprit for these delays.  When you delay treatment simple problems can, it time, become major dental problems with significant consequences. With the popularization of sedation dentistry, we can offer you treatment designed to reduce your fear of dental treatment. With sedation dentistry we are able of treat larger number of teeth and hopefully get more treatment done in one visit.  The choice is yours.  Please feel free to contact our office and discuss with Dr’s DeLapp your barriers to treatment.

Indications for sedation dentistry.  Indications for sedation dentistry include but are not limited to:

• Mild dental anxiety
• Moderate dental anxiety
• Severe dental anxiety (most likely hospital anesthesia case)
• Difficulty getting numb
• History of difficult dental procedures
• Difficulty controlling movements (cerebral palsy or Parkinson’s disease etc.)
• Complex dental treatment
• Fear of needles
• Fear of the “drill”

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Oral Sedation Highlands Ranch Dentists

Anxiety and the fear of dentistry is the number one reason many patients either delay necessary dental treatment or avoid care altogether.  Dr. James DeLapp and Dr. Candace DeLapp, Highlands Ranch Dentists, are dedicated to providing anxiety-lowering treatment for our Colorado dental patients in Denver, Highlands Ranch, Lone Tree, Centennial, Parker, and Ken Caryl areas. Oral sedation for many patients provides “just enough relief” from the chronic dental anxiety that they have had for a lifetime and allows them to complete their dental treatment in a timely fashion.

Dental oral sedation is considered by many to be the second stage of dental anxiety relief used in dentistry.  Nitrous oxide/oxygen (laughing gas) is considered the first line anti-anxiety medication and is discussed in detail in the next section.

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Techniques to reduce gagging during dental appointments for dental patients in Highlands Rach

Gagging during dental visits is a problem for a few patients but for those who suffer, it can be  significant. Here are a few techniques that may help you to get through your next visit.  One of the most difficult appointments appears to be the taking of dental x-rays (dental radiographs).  Manipulation of the tongue and placing the dental sensor seems to cause problems for many dental patients. Our Highlands Ranch Dentists are dedicated to providing our Highlands Ranch Colorado dental patients as well as patients living and working in Denver, Parker, Centennial, Castle Pines and Lone Tree with individualized family dentistry, cosmetic dentistry, and other customized dental services.  Dr. James DeLapp and Dr. H. Candace DeLapp are family and cosmetic dentists who strive to meet your specific dental needs and working to reduce gagging is one of them.

our dental practice video (click here)

Techniques for “decreasing” gagging during dental appointments include but are not limited to:

• Temporal Tap- lightly tap on your temples.
• Pressure point on your hand.  Firm pressure between the thumb and first finger.
• Guided Imagery- thinking about something else!
• Nose breathing!
• Salt under the tongue (we don’t know why this works but it “may”).

Contact us (double click on the link below)

www.cottonwooddentalgroup.com/html/contactus.html

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Nitrous Oxide (Happy gas) for Dental Patients in Highlands Ranch Colorado

Fear and anxiety of dentistry is one of the reasons many patients either delay necessary dental treatment or avoid care altogether. Highlands Ranch Dentists, Dr. Candace DeLapp and Dr. James DeLapp provide fear/anxiety-lowering treatment using nitrous oxide/oxygen sedation for our Colorado dental patients in the Highlands Ranch, Lone Tree, Centennial, Englewood, and Denver areas. Nitrous oxide/oxygen sedation provides for many, “just enough relief” from the anxiety and fear that they have. For many dental patients this relief is all they need to have to accomplish their care.

Nitrous oxide/ oxygen sedation has been used in dentistry and medicine since the 1700’s.and was “discovered” by Joseph Priestley. In the late 1700’s and early 1800’s “laughing gas” was a popular source of entertainment and enjoyment for the youth of this period. In 1844 a local dentist, Dr. Horace Wells, made the intellectual jump from entertainment to medical and dental procedures and is considered to be the “Father of Modern Anesthesiology”. Today nitrous oxide is used extensively in both medicine and dentistry.

Our dental practice video (click here)

Advantages and Indications of Nitrous oxide/oxygen Sedation in Dentistry

Nitrous oxide has several advantages and indications in the dental setting and includes but are not limited to:

• Nitrous oxide/oxygen is well tolerated by “most” dental patients
• The dental patient “may” drive to and from the appointment
• It is simple to administer and monitor
• It is exceedingly safe with few side effects
• Is effective in mitigating the anxiety of “most” patients
• Helps effectively manage medically compromised patients (cardiovascular, respiratory, and cerebrovascular diseases to name a few)
• Helps reduces gagging in many dental patients
• Recovery from the effects of nitrous oxide/oxygen sedation occurs in minutes
• There appears to be no hangover or lingering effects once the nitrous is flushed from the patients system.

Contact us (double click on the link below)

www.cottonwooddentalgroup.com/html/contactus.html

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• Hospital Dentistry for Dental Patients in Highlands Ranch and Parker area
  

For extreme dental phobia or medically compromised dental patients… hospital dentistry may be the resort of choice. Highlands Ranch Dentists Dr. James DeLapp and Dr. Candace DeLapp provide hospital dentistry for our Colorado dental patients in the Lone Tree, Parker, Centennial, and in the greater Denver area. Hospital based dentistry provides for a select few a way to fulfill their dental needs that cannot be met with procedures in the dental office.

General anesthesia whether it is for heart transplant or dental procedures carries the “same” anesthetic risks. While unintended outcomes are uncommon, care needs to be taken to make the prognosis as favorable as possible.

Contact us (double click on the link below)

www.cottonwooddentalgroup.com/html/contactus.html

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