Record-keeping in intravenous sedation: Are we meeting the standards?

As primary care dental services continue to offer conscious sedation in practice, this article presents the findings from a record-keeping audit carried out at a dental teaching hospital in the UK. National guidance was used to set out the gold standards for record-keeping. Various shortcomings in terms of documentation were identified.

Making dental extractions predictable: A methodological approach.

Dental extractions are one of the most commonly undertaken procedures in dentistry. However, for some dentists it can be a stressful and daunting treatment to undertake. This paper explores the importance of planning and the salient aspects in the assessment that should be considered.

Safe intravenous sedation for oral surgery in a primary care setting.

Conscious sedation is a useful adjunct in oral surgery due to the invasive nature of procedures and the prevalence of dental anxiety in the general population. The most common conscious sedation technique used in the UK is intravenous sedation with a single drug, midazolam, which has an excellent record of safety. This paper gives an overview of areas to consider when planning oral surgery procedures in primary care under intravenous sedation with midazolam, to enhance success and patient safety.

The incidence of medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw following tooth extraction in patients prescribed oral bisphosphonates.

Aims To determine the incidence of medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw in patients prescribed oral bisphosphonate medication following dental extraction in a dedicated clinic within the Department of Oral Surgery of King's College Hospital. The effect of factors such as sex, duration of therapy, medical comorbidities and site of extraction, which have previously been reported to significantly affect the risk of developing osteonecrosis of the jaw, was also examined.Materials and methods Data were gathered from the dental records of patients who had extractions over an eight-year period and were included in this retrospective study.

Retrospective evaluation of sensory neuropathies after extraction of mandibular third molars with confirmed "high-risk" features on cone beam computed topography scans.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to identify the incidence of inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) injury after extraction of mandibular third molars with confirmed "high-risk" features on cone beam computed topography scans and establish any risk factors that significantly increase the chances of sustaining an IAN injury.

Study Design: This study is a retrospective analysis of outcomes after surgical extraction of 500 mandibular third molars over a 5-year period. All teeth showed signs of contact with or compression of the IAN on cone beam computed topography scans.

Multiple sclerosis and its impact on dental care.

Multiple sclerosis affects approximately 130,000 people in the UK. Due to the wide variation in the symptoms associated with this condition and their variable severity, the provision of dental care for affected patients must be determined by an individual's specific needs. This will often vary significantly over time.

COVID-19: establishing an oral surgery-led urgent dental care hub.

COVID-19 has changed the face of dentistry in the UK and around the world. The potential for aerosol generation, the presence of the virus within saliva and the fact that dental professionals work with the oral-pharyngeal environment determines that dental treatment poses a risk of viral transmission. At the start of the pandemic, the cessation of routine dental care across the country necessitated the rapid establishment of an emergency dental service at King's College Hospital.

An audit into the reasons why treatment was not completed as planned under intravenous sedation in an adult oral surgery department, and the cost implications.

This audit aimed to identify the prevalence of, and reasons for failed intravenous conscious sedation in an adult oral surgery department, to develop recommendations to reduce such failures and to identify any cost implications. Data were collected prospectively for three months for all intravenous sedation appointments in the Oral Surgery department. Data were collected for 109 sedation appointments of which 83 were successful (76%).