The Patient Journey - Children's INHALATION sedation

Once a referral has been made by your dentist, a member of the Dental Sedation Solutions team will invite you to a pre-operative assessment to discuss your child's needs and ensure they are suitable for sedation.

Your experienced sedation dentist Dr Shilpa Shah will hold the assessment at Victoria Clinic where we will count your child's teeth, and record their height and weight. We will discuss what sedation options are suitable and answer any questions, queries or concerns before going ahead with any treatment. We will provide you with a treatment plan and all the necessary documents such as pre and post-operative information and consent forms at this visit. 

We will give your child homework such as practising breathing in and out through their nose whilst keeping their mouth open; this is important, so they are familiar and confident on the day of treatment.  

The acclimatisation visit is often included in the pre-assessment. If your child has high dental anxiety, we may recommend it as a separate appointment to give them more time to feel at ease in our environment. 

During this visit, your child can see and hold the happy air mask, practise wearing it, and get used to how it feels. We also offer ‘super smellies’—scented pens in fun flavours like watermelon, cola, strawberry, and banana—that your child can choose from to make the mask smell pleasant and more enjoyable on the day of treatment. 

They'll also be introduced to the dental chair, equipment, and the Wand (our painless anaesthesia system). We’ll provide tailored preventive advice to help reduce the risk of future dental problems. This visit helps build your child’s confidence and gives them a chance to ask questions in a calm, supportive setting.

It is important that your child is in good health and does not have a runny or blocked nose so that they can breathe in the happy air. 

We ask that your child does not eat in the two hours before the appointment. A small light snack is preferable if required. Our sedation nurse will greet you and check you have followed instructions correctly. 

On the day of the appointment, we suggest bringing in a cuddly toy, a game, some headphones for music and a small blanket to maximise comfort. 

Once we have everything set up, we will get them comfortable,  place the mask on and guide them through breathing in the happy air sedation. This can make them feel warm and tingly and sometimes giggle. They will be monitored closely by our team.

Once the happy air has taken effect, we will give you some sunglasses and use some special flavoured cream on your gum to make it tingle, we will then put your tooth to sleep using our magic wand! 

This step is pain-free and you won't feel a thing during the treatment but your face will feel numb in the area. You will be able to talk if you need to. 

It's now time to have your dental treatment. 

When your treatment is finished, we will give you 2 minutes of pure oxygen at the end of treatment. You sit back and relax in our comfy chair for ten minutes and once you feel ok you can go home! 

After sedation, it is normal to feel sleepy and tired. 

We make sure you feel 100% before you leave our clinic.