SEDATION DENTISTRY IN GRANADA HILLS

Sedation dentistry uses medication to take the fear out of dental treatment. At Viva Smile in Granada Hills, it comes in three levels: nitrous oxide ($600), oral sedation ($150), and IV sedation at a flat $1,600 — no matter how long your procedure runs.

If you're reading this page, the medication probably isn't the real question. The real question is whether it's possible for you — with your history, your anxiety, however long it's been — to sit in a dental chair without panic. It is. Many of the patients we treat stayed away for ten or fifteen years before their first visit here. What follows is what each option actually does, what it costs, and how to tell which one fits your situation.

What Are the Three Levels of Sedation?

Sedation isn't one thing. It's a range — from softening the edge of anxiety to remembering almost nothing about your visit. You choose how aware you want to be, and we match the method to that.

Nitrous oxide: the lightest option

You breathe nitrous oxide through a small mask that rests over your nose. Within a few minutes, the anxiety loosens its grip. You stay awake and aware — you can answer questions and follow what's happening — but the fear stops running the room. When the mask comes off, the effect fades within minutes, and most patients are cleared to drive themselves home afterward.

Nitrous suits mild anxiety and shorter visits. If you want the edge taken off without giving up the rest of your day, this is the option built for that. The fee is $600.

Oral sedation: a pill before your visit

Oral sedation is a prescribed medication you take before your appointment. By the time you're in the chair, you're deeply relaxed — drowsy, calm, and for many patients only loosely aware of time passing. Some doze lightly through their procedure.

Because the medication works in your system for hours, you'll need someone to drive you to and from the visit, and it's worth planning a slow rest of the day. The fee is $150. You'll notice that's less than nitrous, even though the relaxation runs deeper for most patients. The fees reflect what each option involves to deliver — not a ranking of which one works better.

IV sedation: the deepest option, and the one we recommend most

IV sedation delivers medication directly through a vein, so it takes effect within minutes and can be adjusted in real time as your procedure goes on. You're not unconscious. You keep breathing on your own, and you can respond if we speak to you. But most patients remember very little of the appointment afterward. One of our patients put it this way: the visit "felt like 5 minutes."

This is the option we recommend for surgical work, for longer procedures, and for patients whose fear runs deep enough that staying aware isn't something they want. If years of avoidance are what brought you to this page, this is usually where the conversation lands. You'll need someone to drive you home, and we'll give you specific instructions before the appointment, including when to stop eating and drinking. The fee is $1,600 — flat. That word matters more than it sounds, and it gets its own section below.

How Much Does Sedation Dentistry Cost in Granada Hills?

Here's the full picture at Viva Smile:

Two things worth knowing about these numbers:

First, sedation is generally not covered by dental insurance — which is part of why we price it flat. You should know the real cost before you decide, not discover it on a bill afterward.

Second, if your treatment is full-arch implant reconstruction, IV sedation is already included in the arch price — see our full-arch dental implant cost article. There's no separate sedation fee on those cases.

Why Is IV Sedation a Flat Fee Instead of Billed by Time?

The convention in dentistry is to bill IV sedation by the clock. The standard dental billing codes are built around time: a fee for the first stretch of sedation, then an added charge for every 15 minutes after that.

Think about what that means for the patient. You can't know your sedation cost until the procedure is over. If the work runs longer than planned, the bill grows while you're sedated, in no position to weigh anything. We decided against that. IV sedation at Viva Smile is $1,600 whether your procedure takes one hour or four. The number you hear at your consultation is the number on your treatment plan. For someone who's already anxious, removing an open-ended unknown isn't a small thing. The meter isn't running while you're under.

Which Sedation Option Is Right for You?

There's no universal answer. The right level depends on the procedure, your health history, and how deep the fear actually runs. As a general guide:

• If your anxiety is mild and the visit is short, nitrous oxide keeps you present and lets you get on with your day.
• If you want deeper relaxation and can arrange a ride, oral sedation does more than most patients expect, at the lowest fee of the three.
• If the procedure is long or surgical, or you'd rather remember almost none of it, IV sedation is usually the answer — and it's the option we recommend most.

Some health conditions and medications change which options are open to you. That isn't something to guess at from a web page. It's one of the things we go through, plainly, at your exam.

Is Sedation Dentistry Safe?

This is the question underneath every other sedation question, and it deserves a direct answer rather than reassurance.

Dr. Baghdasaryan trained in IV sedation at the USC Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry and has been a member of the American Dental Society of Anesthesiology since 2008. During IV sedation, the medication is delivered through an infusion pump that controls the dose precisely, and your vital signs — heart rate, oxygen, blood pressure — are monitored continuously throughout.

You're never unconscious. You breathe on your own the entire time, and you can respond if we speak to you.

Before any sedation is planned, we review your full medical history and every medication you take. If something in your history changes the picture, we tell you plainly and plan around it before the appointment, not after.

What If Needles Are the Problem?

For a lot of patients, the fear isn't the drill. It's the shot. Two things we do differently. For injections, we use The Wand — a computer-controlled system that delivers anesthetic at a slow, consistent rate instead of all at once. Most patients who've dreaded shots their whole lives are genuinely surprised by it. And for many cavities, the Solea laser removes decay while numbing the tooth as it works, which means no injection at all.

Tell us what specifically worries you, and we'll tell you exactly how we handle it. That isn't a slogan. It's how the first conversation here actually goes.

A Dentist for Patients With Dental Anxiety

Fear is one of the most common reasons the patients we meet stayed away — sometimes for a decade or more. The pattern is familiar to us, and it doesn't get a lecture here. It gets an exam, a plain explanation of where things stand, and options. What happened before now isn't the point. What happens next is. Here's how two of our patients put it:

"I have crazy anxiety when it comes to the dentist and let's just say I was not OK when I arrived. The staff made me feel so at ease."

"I love going to the dentist now. Seriously, who says that?"

That second one is the outcome we're working toward — not a patient who white-knuckles through appointments, but a patient for whom the fear itself was the first thing treated.

Sedation Dentistry in Granada Hills: Frequently Asked Questions

Will I be unconscious during IV sedation?

No. This is conscious sedation: you keep breathing on your own and can respond if we speak to you. Most patients are deeply relaxed, loosely aware at most, and remember very little of the visit afterward.

Do I need someone to drive me home?

For oral and IV sedation, yes — arrange a driver for both directions. After nitrous oxide, the effects fade within minutes of the mask coming off, and most patients are cleared to drive themselves.

How much does IV sedation cost at Viva Smile?

$1,600, flat, regardless of how long your procedure runs. Most practices bill IV sedation in time increments — commonly every 15 minutes — so the final cost isn't knowable until the procedure ends. Ours is fixed before you sit down.

Does dental insurance cover sedation?

Generally, no. Sedation is rarely covered by dental insurance, which is part of why we price it flat. The dental exam that starts the process is different: most PPO plans cover it in full.

Is sedation safe if I have health conditions or take medication?

It depends on the condition and the medication, which is exactly why we review your complete medical history before any sedation is planned. Some situations call for extra planning; some change which option we recommend. Bring your medication list to your exam and we'll go through it together.

Can I be sedated for a routine visit, like a cleaning or a filling?

Sedation isn't reserved for surgery. If anxiety is what's kept you away from routine care, sedation can be part of routine care too. Which option makes sense depends on the procedure and on you — that's a conversation at your exam, not a menu to figure out alone.

Where to Start

Three options, one structure: nitrous oxide at $600 to take the edge off, oral sedation at $150 for deeper relaxation, and IV sedation at a flat $1,600 if you'd rather remember almost nothing — with the cost fixed before you ever sit down. Here, sedation is how the fear gets treated. The dentistry comes after.

If you're ready to find out where things stand, start with a dental exam. It's $150, most PPO plans cover it in full, and there's no lecture attached — an honest look, a plain explanation, and your options laid out. Book when you're ready. We'll take it from there.

Written by Dr. Káren Baghdasaryan, DDS, MBA, AAACD, AFAAID — the first DSD-certified clinician in Los Angeles. Last reviewed: July 7, 2026.