References
Complications of conscious sedation: causes and management
From Volume 44, Issue 11, December 2017 | Pages 1034-1040
Article
In 2009, the Adult Dental Health Survey stated that 12% of adults who had ever attended a dentist reported having extreme dental anxiety based on the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale.1 As dental practitioners, patients often comment on their anxiety or past experiences which they deem as being unpleasant. An alternative option to treating patients with severe dental anxiety under local anaesthesia alone may be through delivery of conscious sedation.
Conscious sedation is defined as: ‘A technique in which the use of a drug or drugs produces a state of depression of the central nervous system enabling treatment to be carried out, but during which verbal contact with the patient is maintained throughout the period of sedation. The drugs and techniques used to provide conscious sedation for dental treatment should carry a margin of safety wide enough to render loss of consciousness unlikely.
The level of sedation must be such that the patient remains conscious, retains protective reflexes, and is able to respond to verbal commands.’2
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