Anesthesia and Conscious Sedation

Policy Statement

The effective control of anxiety and pain has been an integral part of dental practice since the early development of the profession. There exists a population of patients, because of their need for extensive treatment, acute situational anxiety, uncooperative age appropriate behavior, immature cognitive functioning, disabilities, or medical conditions, who can now be comfortably and successfully treated. In the past, many of these patients would have needed to undergo difficult dental procedures without the benefit of anesthesia, or forgo treatment altogether.

CDA recognizes that conscious sedation, deep sedation and general anesthesia are safe and appropriate means of managing patient behavior and producing a positive psychological response to dental treatment. CDA supports an appropriately trained dentist’s right to administer conscious sedation, deep sedation and general anesthesia, and has demonstrated a commitment to both patient safety and access to oral health care through involvement in the development of anesthesiology standards, statutes and reimbursement policies in California. CDA supports regulatory standards to ensure that only appropriately trained dentists and those dentists who meet the regulatory requirements by virtue of their clinical experience use conscious sedation, deep sedation and general anesthesia.

To ensure appropriate training and maximum safety, CDA recommends dentists follow California law and the American Dental Association’s Guidelines for the Use of Conscious Sedation, Deep Sedation and General Anesthesia for Dentists and Guidelines for Teaching the Comprehensive Control of Anxiety and Pain in Dentistry. These documents establish high standards for the training and use of conscious sedation, deep sedation and general anesthesia in dentistry and undergo annual review by ADA.

(Approved by the CDA House of Delegates, November 2006, per CDA House Resolution 31-2006)