What You Need To Know About Dental Anesthesia In New Hampshire

In last week’s blog, we talked about the controversial topic of IV sedation during dentistry. With little oversight on who regulates the administration of anesthesia in dental offices.

The Dental Tribune spoke with a leading voice on the subject, Dr Rita Agarwal, who explains why the single operator model is a problem.

This is different than the model in the dental profession, whereby all complications are attributed to the individual practitioner. Many of the so-called dental anaesthesia assistant certifications do not actually train an individual to help care for a patient under sedation or anaesthesia.

At most, dental anaesthesia assistants are trained to watch the monitors, and not to assist in rescuing a patient if there is a complication. Specifically, the training the dental assistants receive is highly variable, inconsistent and based upon the experience and current practices of the practitioner who is delivering the training.

It makes no sense that medical practitioners operate under one model and sets of guidelines and are highly regulated by several government and state agencies, but dentists doing the same thing are exempt from this. My hope is that we can create guidelines or recommendations that apply to anybody who performs sedation in any situation or location. Legally, nobody has to follow them, but the more guidelines that are out there, the harder it is to justify a different practice model, particularly if you have a bad outcome. The lawyers will hold up these guidelines in court and say: “How do you justify not following X, Y or Z guidelines?”

Certainly, you want to do everything in your power to ensure your safety, or the safety of your loved one. Many patients don’t realize or are unaware of the risks involved in when a ‘single model sedation, such as, when a pediatric dentist, administers IV sedation while also performing the dental procedure.

If you have questions, contact Blue Sky Anesthesia Associates. With over 20 years experience, our goal to create a personalized and individual sedation plan.