Managing paediatric dental anxiety

This article aims to highlight the role of dental nurses in delivery of inhalation sedation amongst the paediatric population. This includes but is not limited to setup and safety checks, patient behavioural management during sedation and treatment, monitoring of patient’s vital observations and post-sedation instructions.

What is inhalation sedation?

Conscious sedation has been 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.”¹