House Calls

To fulfill his goal of making dental care available to all, Dr. Itani offers a carefully designed House Call service in addition to the general dentistry provided in his office.  This Special Care Service provides treatment at home, hospital, or assisted living facility to patients for whom a dental office visit is a struggle due to immobility issues related to age, special needs, phobia, or other compromising conditions.

It is carefully structured to bring the experience, expertise, and equipment needed for home treatment of nearly all dental conditions, whether routine or complex, with the utmost care and concern for a patient’s comfort and well-being.

If you live within a 50-mile radius of our San Francisco office, any procedure performed in your place of residence would be performed with the same degree of care and just as they would be performed in a dental office.

In-Office Sedation

We offer the full spectrum of sleep (sedation) dentistry for patients who are mostly healthy and don’t require treatment in the hospital. In-office sedation may be appropriate for those who have but not limited to any of the following:

• Severe dental phobia/fear
• Cognitive or general anxiety disorders
• Sensitive gag reflex
• Medical or age-related conditions that compromise his/her/their ability to remain still to ensure the utmost safety during care

The types of in-office sedation we offer include:

• Nitrous/Laughing Gas

Used for over 100 years, this is one of the safest and most effective ways to provide some level of anxiolysis during dental treatment. It can be used on people of all ages with very few contraindications. By breathing through a nasal hood, nitrous allows the patient to be awake/aware with all responses and functions intact while reducing anxiety. Nitrous oxide is quick onset and quick to leave your system, so you can arrive to and leave your appointment independently.

• Oral Conscious Sedation

By taking a pill self-administered by the patient, this level of sedation also leaves you awake/aware and can at times be combined with nitrous/laugh gas for patients with higher levels of anxiety. Unlike nitrous/laughing gas, we do require the patient to be escorted to and from the appointment if undergoing a procedure with oral conscious sedation.

• Intravenous (IV) Sedation

Always administered by a dental anesthesiologist, IV sedation allows the patient to be deeply sedated, often to the level of sleep, while still enabling them to breathe on their own. This offers the next level of sedation for patients with extreme phobia or mental/physical/developmental limitations that inhibit them from being able to stay still/remain cooperative during treatments.

• General Anesthesia

The most invasive of all in-office sedation techniques, general anesthesia is administered through an intravenous line by a dental anesthesiologist. This level of sedation will put the patient into a complete level of unconsciousness and require nasal intubation to assist in breathing. Patients who need extensive treatment may find this to be the most appropriate option and can return home the same day within a few hours after completion of the dentistry.

Hospital Services

We are affiliated with several Bay Area hospitals where we provide dental services to patients who need cardiac surgery. Additionally, if you or someone you know has a complex medical condition, we can provide dental services in the operating room setting. Our dentists maintain privileges at:

• California Pacific Medical Center – Sutter Health Van Ness Campus
• California Pacific Medical Center – Sutter Health Davies Campus
• Kaiser Permanente San Francisco
• Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara
• Kaiser Permanente San Jose

Geriatric/Special Needs Patients

Our dental care and treatment plans pay special attention to senior-specific concerns like:

• Changes to the structure of oral mucosa, gums, and supporting bone surrounding our teeth.
• Xerostomia, or “dry mouth” (often a side-effect of medications).
• Denture and implant options.
• The risk of infection traveling from the mouth to hip and joint sites.
• The link between periodontal disease and heart, respiratory, and stroke dangers

Itani Dental coordinates with Case managers, Caregivers, and Senior Care facilities to provide services that meet the needs of the senior populations. Our services are specifically designed to accommodate patients dealing with Immobility, Dementia, and Phobias by providing the following services:

• Mobile dental screening for groups (Senior Centers, Churches, Residential Centers).
• Our Dentistry to Your Door program, a traveling (home care) dental health service, is one of the only programs in Northern California of its kind, delivering treatment to your home, residential group home, or assisted living facility. We maintain mobile equipment and techniques designed to provide this service
• The most appropriate course of sedation for our senior adults and special needs patients, as well as for emergency situations they may experience.
• Personalized assessments and coordination with case managers, caregivers, and senior care facilities.