Oral Sedation – Due to reasons of convenience, oral sedation has become the most popular patient choice. It’s usually utilized for managing mild to moderate stress or anxiety and to help the patient have a peaceful night before the appointment in some instances. The aim is to leave the patient in a lightly sedated, relaxed, more collaborative state that’s easier to handle—not to provide moderate pain control or sedation.
Because of the sedating influence, regardless of how mild, it’s the dentist’s responsibility to let the patient know if they will require the aid of a responsible adult to move them to and from the office. Different oral sedatives that have been utilized in dentistry include benzodiazepines like lorazepam (Ativan), diazepam (Valium) midazolam (Versed) and triazolam (Halcion)—and non-benzodiazepines like zaleplon (Sonata) and zolpidem (Ambien).
Benefits of Oral Sedatives
When you compare it to other sedation systems, the price of oral sedatives to the dentist and the patient is insignificant. No special equipment, techniques or injections are involved and the dentist doesn’t need extensive or advanced oral sedation dentistry courses. Oral sedation can be helpful for patients with medical ailments like renal/hepatic diseases, cardiovascular disease diabetes and epilepsy. It’s still prudent to speak with a physician to know your exact medical status.
Oral Sedative Disadvantages
Perhaps the greatest disadvantage of oral sedation is the inability to titrate. Since the drug is going to move through the portal hepatic circulation and the gastrointestinal tract, just a tiny portion of the drug is going to reach the action location. The start of action (30 minutes-60 minutes), as well as restoration, might be slowed. Depending on the compliance of patients—particularly when it comes to escorting requirements—can be an issue. Frequent potential adverse effects of drugs include vomiting and nausea.
Indications of Oral Sedation
Oral sedation by itself is primarily utilized to manage mild to moderate dental anxieties. It can also be applied as a supplement to additional sedation methods for the critically anxious. The dentist would need to have more sedation training than just the dental school curriculum in the latter case.
