'waking up' during IV sedation

[Lynds]

Hi, I 'woke up' in the middle of the procedure with IV sedation about 3 years ago. The dentist said he could not understand it and asked me if I had eaten spicy food the night before?! I said no. (prior to this I had the IV sedation once before with this dentist and it was fine I was unaware of all the treament). A year after the 'wake up' incident I go to a new dentist and I tell the surgery manager that the sedation had not worked properly and I knew what was going on. She said she had never heard of it not working properly. This was in 2010 and I had the IV sedation with the new dentist for a wisdom tooth extraction and a clean and never knew a thing about it. Then yesterday I had the 2nd IV sedation with the new dentist and I 'woke up' after my extractions but before my fillings were even started. The dentist said, 'this has happened to you before hasn't it?'. Of course I said yes as they knew about my previous experience. What I want to know is why have I 'woken up' in the middle of the treatment with 2 different dentists and neither of them had any explanation nor did they do anything to sedate me further and I would like to know the reason for that as well. Does anyone have any ideas as I just don't get why this is happening? Thanks a lot.

 

[comfortdentist]

What I don't understand is how dentists don't know that this does happen. The problem is not you but a lack of understanding or knowledge by the dentists. All drugs have a time of activity and that effect is very strong at first and does taper off after awhile. This effects vary with patients to a large degree and also vary somewhat from day to day with the same patient. The great beauty of IV sedation is that it allows the doctor to administer more medication as you need it during treatment.

 

[Gordon]

I agree, that shows a disturbing lack of awareness of how the drugs they are administering actually work

 

[Emmyonfire]

I started to surface twice during my IV sedation, once very early I presume during the injections, and then again during the procedure, as soon as I made a noise I was away again, no worries at all. I think I was lucky that I had someone who had me nicely balanced on the meds, not overdone, but just enough for most of it.

 

[comfortdentist]

I started to surface twice during my IV sedation, once very early I presume during the injections, and then again during the procedure, as soon as I made a noise I was away again, no worries at all. I think I was lucky that I had someone who had me nicely balanced on the meds, not overdone, but just enough for most of it.

You are absolutely right. The purpose of sedation is to allow you to be comfortable but still have your basic protective reflexes and desire to breath. The amount of drug(s) you need will vary with the procedure done and even during the procedure. An experienced doctor will know how to regulate and administer drugs during the course of treatment. I just finished doing a bilateral sinus lift with IV sedation on a patient who did wonderful.