Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Sep 1;21(5):e579-86.
doi: 10.4317/medoral.20981.

Current methods of sedation in dental patients - a systematic review of the literature

J-R Corcuera-Flores  1 , J Silvestre-Rangil, A Cutando-Soriano, J López-Jiménez
Affiliations

Current methods of sedation in dental patients - a systematic review of the literature

J-R Corcuera-Flores et al. Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal. .

Abstract

Objective: The main objective of this systematic literature review is to identify the safest and most effective sedative drugs so as to ensure successful sedation with as few complications as possible.

Study design: A systematic literature review of the PubMed MEDLINE database was carried out using the key words "conscious sedation," "drugs," and "dentistry." A total of 1,827 scientific articles were found, and these were narrowed down to 473 articles after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. These 473 studies were then individually assessed for their suitability for inclusion in this literature review.

Results: A total of 21 studies were selected due to their rigorous study design and conduciveness to further, more exhaustive analysis. The selected studies included a total of 1,0003 patients classified as ASA I or II. Midazolam was the drug most frequently used for successful sedation in dental surgical procedures. Ketamine also proved very useful when administered intranasally, although some side effects were observed when delivered via other routes of administration. Both propofol and nitrous oxide (N2O) are also effective sedative drugs.

Conclusions: Midazolam is the drug most commonly used to induce moderate sedation in dental surgical procedures, and it is also very safe. Other sedative drugs like ketamine, dexmedetomidine and propofol have also been proven safe and effective; however, further comparative clinical studies are needed to better demonstrate which of these are the safest and most effective.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no conflict of interest exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Literature Review Diagram.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Almenrader N, Passariello M, Coccetti B, Haiberger R, Pietropaoli P. Premedication in children: a comparison of oral midazolam and oral clonidine. Paediatr Anaesth. 2007;17:1143–9. - PubMed
    1. Wilson TD, McNeil DW, Kyle BN, Weaver BD, Graves RW. Effects of conscious sedation on patient recall of anxiety and pain after oral surgery. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol. 2014;117:277–82. - PubMed
    1. O'Halloran M. The use of anaesthetic agents to provide anxiolysis and sedation in dentistry and oral surgery. Australas Med J. 2013;6:713–8. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Saraghi M, Badner VM, Golden LR, Hersh EV. Propofol:an overview of its risks and benefits. Compend Contin Educ Dent. 2013;34:252–8. - PubMed
    1. Lambert C. Sexual phenomena hypnosis and nitrous oxide sedation. J Am Dent Assoc. 1982;105:990–1. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources