Interdisciplinary Study of Diazepam Sedation for Outpatient Dentistry

Abstract

Patients unable to submit themselves to routine dental treatment under local anaesthesia were studied during treatment under diazepam sedation accompanied by local anaesthesia, and compared with a matched control group for psychiatric assessment. Physiological responses, operating conditions, amnesia, pain threshold, and recovery were all assessed by various tests. Some of the patients had an anxiety neurosis, and several had been referred because of previous failure to complete dental treatment. Satisfactory conditions were obtained in all but two instances, and no adverse physiological responses occurred with diazepam in an intravenous dose of 0·2 mg./kg. Patients were clinically safe to leave accompanied by a responsible adult within one hour of administration of the drug. Some patients showed an improvement in attitude towards dentistry following treatment.