Sedation dentistry is also called conscious sedation density or IV sedation dentistry. This intravenous nature means you will be fully relaxed throughout your dental treatment. Patients will have little to no memory of the procedures, pain or discomfort.
What Are The Risks?
After several children were injured or passed away during a dental procedure. The safety of dentist and oral surgeons administering anesthesia to their patients has come into question. Since the suspected cause of the fatalities was anesthesia related. Much of the problem lies when the single provider handles both the procedure and the anesthesia itself.
“As a result, the family reached out to their state assemblyman, Tony Thurmond (D-Richmond), who produced a bill—known as Caleb’s Law—that required notifying parents before their child’s oral surgery that there is a greater risk for death when the same oral surgeon performs both surgery and anesthesia. In a statement to Anesthesiology News, the father, Tim Sears, said: “When parents make decisions about anesthesia risks they conflate the more safe practice of medical anesthesiologists with the practice of having an oral surgeon operating as a single operator-anesthetist. The risks vary and parents should know that. I only wish we had known that,” reports Anesthesiology News.
Safety First
The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation addresses the risks involved with the Single-Provider-Operator-Anesthetist Model for Dental Deep Sedation/Anesthesia
“it is essential that patient safety advocates be informed of this significant safety issue; healthy patients continue to suffer adverse outcomes specifically because of this single-provider-operator-anesthetist oral surgery practice model. We have a professional and personal responsibility to educate parents and patients to ask their oral surgeon very specific questions: “How will I/my child be monitored and by whom? Is there an independent observer whose only responsibility is to watch me/my child, certified in and up-to-date in resuscitation and trained in the delivery of anesthestics? Is the equipment for resuscitation immediately available?” If the answer to these questions is ambiguous or “no,” then patient safety may be compromised.
At Blue Sky Anesthesia Associates, our expectations are high and so should yours. Especially when it comes to choosing to have sedation for your dental procedure. You deserve to have individual attention and an experienced nurse anesthetist providing your sedation. Whose only concern is monitoring you and your safety.
We follow the strict American Dental Association guidelines and protocols throughout the procedure.
Contact Blue Sky Anesthesia Associates for more information and to make an appointment.
