Conscious and/or Deep Sedation

To administer conscious and/or deep sedation in the office, an oral surgeon must have completed at least three months of hospital based anesthesia training. Qualified applicants will then undergo an in office evaluation by a provincial dental board appointed examiner. The examiner observes an actual surgical procedure during which general anesthesia is administered to the patient. The examiner also inspects all monitoring devices and emergency equipment and tests the doctor and the surgical staff on anesthesia related emergencies. If the examiner reports successful completion of the evaluation process, the provincial dental board will issue the doctor a license to perform general anesthesia. The license is renewable every two years if the doctor maintains the required amount of continuing education units related to anesthesia.

It is not always possible to predict how an individual patient will respond and, at times, it can be difficult to precisely define the end-point of one level of sedation and the starting point of a deeper level of sedation. Therefore, the drugs and techniques used for sedation carry a margin of safety wide enough to render loss of consciousness highly unlikely.

Again, when it comes to anesthesia, our first priority is the patient’s comfort and safety. If you have any concerns regarding the type of anesthesia that will be administered during your oral surgery procedure, please do not hesitate to discuss your concerns with your doctor at the time of your consultation.