by Tammy Smit, CRNA
Tammy Smit, CRNA, completed undergraduate
Course description
Sedation for dental treatments and procedures is on the rise, and is often expected by patients. Practitioners offering sedation often request additional information on commonly used pharmaceutical agents. The benzodiazepine class of medications is the most commonly used type of medication used for either oral or intravenous sedation. This course revisits the pharmacology of these prescribed sedatives, including midazolam, diazepam and triazolam.
Objectives
Upon completion of this course, the participant should be able to achieve the following:
1. Identify the incidence of dental anxiety.
2. Discuss the advantages of benzodiazepines that make them an attractive choice for dental sedation.
3. Give examples on how benzodiazepines exert their effects in the central nervous system.
4. Interpret the American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status Classification and its relationship to dental sedation.
5. Recognize levels of anxiety through the indicator of sedation needs tool to identify the appropriate level of sedation.
6. Identify that age, nutritional status, renal or hepatic disease may require a decrease in dosages of prescribed benzodiazepines.
7. Examine best practices for providing anxiolysis.
8. List contraindications and special considerations when administering benzodiazepines.
9. Review the treatment of unintended benzodiazepine overdose.
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