Experience is essential and we certainly have a great deal of that. In addition the staff has advanced training, they have advanced life support training – cardiac training, we work as a team and make it the best and most positive experience possible.

At the end of the appointment the patient is escorted to their car, seated and buckled in by our staff member. Every patient is called the night after their appointment and given the doctors personal home phone numbers in case they need to talk to the doctor for whatever reason. Those extra touches make us unique.

In New Jersey, it is imperative to obtain a permit for oral sedation. Both Dr. McOmber and Dr. Tribula hold a N.J. Oral Conscious Sedation Permit from the N.J. State Board of Dentistry allowing them to practice sedation dentistry in the state.

What’s wonderful about sedation is that long procedures can be done without the patient being aware of the time passing.

We recently worked on a patient from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. with no discomfort to the patient. Another had a full mouth extraction and denture placement on the same day. 6 hours can feel like 20 minutes. Their reaction: “I never knew it could be so easy”, I can’t believe I had all this work done in 2 visits instead of the 6 that I was told previously to expect”. It is not just for the fearful patient but great for the busy patient who can’t afford to take five or six days off from work.

The first dose will be taken one hour prior to the scheduled visit. The patient will then be driven by a companion to the office, be assessed, hooked up to a blood pressure machine, an oxygen monitor and pulse detector. All of this is done through a clip on the finger and a standard blood pressure cuff. It’s an automated monitoring system so once the patient is comfortably seated and the vitals recorded, the doctor will discuss with the patient whether the desired level of comfort has been reached. If the patient would like more medication (and most patients do), the medication will be crushed into a powder and administered under the patients tongue where it dissolves and absorbs more quickly. While waiting for the sedation to take effect, the patient will watch a movie, T.V. or listen to an I-Pod.

Throughout the ensuing procedure the patient will be conscious but totally relaxed. In fact most of our patients fall asleep although at all times they will be able to follow commands if instructed i.e. to open their mouths, bite down etc.

There are people who have postponed going to the dentist for years fearful of even simple procedures like cleanings and fillings.

Over and over patients have told us that a negative experience even as far back as their childhood has left them with a fear of going to the dentists. Sometimes it’s because they weren’t completely numb when a dentist performed a procedure and now just the mention of dental work triggers a panic.

When a patient arrives for the first consultation we discuss the protocol and review their health history to determine if they are suitable candidates. We discuss their expectation and evaluate whether or not we can meet them.