Conscious sedation in predoctoral pediatric dentistry programs

A survey of predoctoral pediatric dentistry programs in American dental schools was conducted to determine the extent of didactic and clinical training in pediatric conscious sedation. Fifty-four of 59 programs (92 percent) returned usable surveys. The results indicated that there exists a wide range of teaching practices, both in numbers and types of sedations experienced. Fifty-six percent of the respondents reported that students received some degree of clinical experience. Sedation was achieved most commonly with chloral hydrate or hydroxyzine administered orally. Predoctoral programs without an affiliated postdoctoral program were much more likely to practice conscious sedation than those that trained postdoctoral students. The reason most frequently listed for the nonuse of sedation in the predoctoral clinic was philosophical opposition to pharmacological management at this level of training. A majority of the respondents believed that improved monitoring practices and documentation of cases would result from the recent adoption by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry of guidelines for conscious sedation.