Question: Who is not a candidate for oral and IV sedation?

 

Answer: The following is a list of individuals who would not be candidates for sedation and includes but not limited to:

 

1. Diabetics- unless blood sugar is well controlled and patient is compliant with dietary and prescription regimens. Type II are typically better candidates as patients with Type I (insulin dependent) typically experience larger fluctuations in blood sugar and need a quicker response to this fluctuation.

 

2. Liver and kidney diseases. Patients with liver and kidney disorders are usually not great candidates for sedation because their ability to metabolize drugs is altered or compromised. These metabolism deficiencies can lead to patients hypo or hyperresponding to medications and will also shorten or prolong the response to the medications. Patients with these disorders need clearance from their physician prior to sedation.

 

3. Thyroid and adrenal disorders. Patients with altered responses to stress, altered metabolisms can affect the response to sedation. Patients that are taking steroids on a regular basis can also have adverse reactions because their body is not conditioned for stressful situations. Patients with these disorders or anything else endocrine in origin should consult their dentist and physician for any proposed sedation treatment.

 

4. Pregnancy- Patients who are pregnant are not good candidates due to the teratogenic properties of sedation medications but also due to the altered metabolic demands of a fetus on a mother's body. If absolutely necessary, the 2nd trimester is the best choice but I would prefer to defer sedation or any unnecessary dental treatment until after pregnancy.

 

5. Medications/recreational drugs- Patients that take mind altering medications such as antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications can also respond very erratically or not at all to sedation medications. Patients typically don't respond as well because the body has been conditioned to process mind altering medications that fall along the same categories of sedative medications. Recreational drugs is a huge contraindication as the response is totally unpredictable and could be potentially life threatening.

 

6. Respiratory- This is the biggest and most frequent complication I run into. Factors such as Asthma, COPD, sleep apnea, sickle cell disease, bronchitis, sinus infections, etc. All sedation medications have some sort of respiratory depressing effects that control a person's breathing. Sedation medications can severely hamper the body's ability to maintain normal breathing and furthermore should be taken with caution. An example of someone who is not always a good candidate is someone that snores on a regular basis as this is already an indication of someone who may be developing respiratory problems.

 

While this is not an all inclusive list, these are the most frequent disqualifying conditions for sedation dentistry!

 

Dr.Glasmeier