Administration of IV sedation by dentist vs anaesthetist (nurse)

[Rabbit]

I am wondering if it is best to find an endodontist who offers IV sedation for a root canal but is administered by an anesthetist nurse rather than by the dentist who does the root canal and administers the anesthetic as well. seems like an anesthetist would have more experience and attend to just one task instead of two of the dentist does it. Any thoughts on this?

 

[mattpobrien4]

Hi,

I have the answer for you.

A certified nurse anesthetist will bring hospital quality sedation to the dental office, administer IV sedation and monitor your child’s vitals, while the dentist performs the procedure, allowing for a safe and effective way to receive dental care.

 

[letsconnect]

Hi there, that question doesn't sound "off-topic" at all! Would you like me to move it into the "Ask a Dentist" section?

 

[Rabbit]

Yes please

 

[Gordon]

Just as well you moved it going by that answer above

Basically there's not a huge difference, although I assume you're in the US so it might cost a bit more to bring in the second person?

The sedation is a separate process from the dentistry, it's done first and then the patient is monitored by a suitably trained and experienced assistant, the dentist will be mostly doing the dentistry. The monitoring is the same no matter who is doing it.

From the patient's point of view there's little difference. As the dentist I generally preferred to sedate the patient myself, mainly because I was more comfortable that I knew how sedated I wanted the patient to be, rather than somebody else deciding it for me.

But I've done plenty of sessions with either a second dentist doing the sedation or an anaesthetist doing it.

What probably counts most as far as the sedation goes is how experienced the sedationist is, one does get better at it with practice.