Information for Patients
What is Sedation?
The aim of advanced intravenous conscious sedation is to make you comfortable, totally relaxed and safe during a procedure.
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Conscious sedation is achieved with intravenous agents (e.g. benzodiazepines, opiates, other sedative/anaesthetics) usually administered into a vein.
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Administration of the sedatives and analgesia results in you becoming drowsy and sleepy, pain free, and probably amnesic such that you will have very little recollection of the procedure. Communication is possible if necessary during the operation because even though you are completely relaxed and unconcerned, you are not completey unconscious at any point in time.
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Your vital signs (i.e. blood pressure, breathing, pulse rate, etc) are monitored throughout the procedure to ensure your safety, and a sedationist will stay with you all the time.
Recovery after sedation is much faster than with general anaesthesia. The same applies for the side effect profile (e.g. nausea and vomiting, headaches, muscle pains, sore throats) which is much less than with general anaesthesia - in fact, very few patients experience any side effects at all. For these reasons patient satisfaction is very high after conscious sedation - a survey of the experiences and satisfaction of patients who had sedation shows that 98.2% of patients would take sedation again if they had a choice.
Goals and Benefits of Sedation
Benefits of sedation:
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Comfortable, practical, co-operative and convenient for you and the surgeon
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Safe due to lower levels of medication administered
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Time saving due to your quick recovery and eliminated need for hospital admission
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Economical since you will have no hospital stay, less side effects, and minimal time off work
Goals of conscious sedation and analgesia:
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Maximise your safety and comfort
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Minimise your discomfort and anxiety
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Maximise success of the procedure
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Minimise your recovery time
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Maximise cost effectiveness of your treatment
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Arranging a Sedation
If you feel you may benefit from having intravenous conscious sedation, please talk to your dentist or surgeon.
If the surgery is registered with Sedation Solutions, they are able to make a booking right away via telephone. If not, they'll simply be asked to complete our simple, free registration process and once registered, we will proceed with a booking.
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Please note, we cannot accept bookings from patients directly. All booking requests must be submitted by the surgery via telephone.
Pre and Post Sedation
Please make sure you have familiarised yourself with our FAQs prior to your sedation.
Pre sedation instructions:
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Do not eat any solid food for 6 hours before your appointment. You can have water (any clear liquids) up to 2 hours before your appointment.
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Please arrive 15 minutes before your appointment.
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Please take your regular medication at the usual times with a small amount of water.
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If you have asthma, please bring your inhaler to the appointment.
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If you are an insulin dependant diabetic, please bring your glucose monitoring device.
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Smoking and alcohol intake should be avoided for 24 hours prior to your appointment. The use of recreational drugs is not permitted for 48 hours prior to your appointment.
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Ensure that you have emptied your bladder prior to going into the surgery.
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Post sedation instructions:
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The sedation may produce TEMPORARY AMNESIA, which rarely lasts more than a few hours.
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A responsible adult will be required to escort you home after the procedure, either by car or taxi. This person will also receive instructions about your aftercare, and should ideally remain with you for the remainder of the day (overnight in some cases).
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Take your regular medication as usual.
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Please do NOT consume alcohol for the remainder of the day.
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Avoid breastfeeding for 24 hours afterwards.
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It can take up 24 hours for the sedative drugs to be eliminated from your body and for you to fully recover from the effects of sedation (drowsiness, loss of memory, lack of awareness and coordination, etc). Therefore, however well you may feel, please DO NOT:
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Drive a vehicle (insurance will be void) or cycle.
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Use electrical equipment, cook or operate machinery.
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Care for children or dependant adults.
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Make important decisions, sign important documents or perform complicated tasks.
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Consume alcohol, sleeping tablets, tobacco or recreational drugs.
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We do not anticipate you having any complications, but should you become concerned about anything, however trivial, please contact your sedationist or our office.
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Please note: to comply with guidelines and for your own safety we must insist that you have a responsible adult to take you home after your appointment. In the event that you have no escort on the day of the sedation, your appointment may be cancelled and you will be charged in full.
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