Conscious sedation in patients with learning disabilities

Learning disability is an impairment of intelligence and social functioning acquired before adulthood. It affects the way someone learns, communicates and caries out everyday activities. Learning disability can be on a spectrum of mild, moderate, severe to profound. An IQ of less than 70 is the dividing line that defines a learning disability, with the average population scoring 100 (Fiske et al. 2007).

People with learning disabilities can also have complicated medical histories or a physical or mental disability, which makes it difficult for them to cooperate with dental care. In addition to their disabilities, research suggests that people with learning disabilities experience dental anxiety which may cause difficulties in cooperating with dental care (Prangnell and Green, 2008; Scully, 2010).