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Bart, oral sedation means simply that whatever sedation the patient is taking, it's by mouth. When I had my first implant and grafting surgery, I was given 4 Halcion tablets. One is enough to make someone fall asleep for several hours and be mostly oblivious to anything that's happening to them, AND recover with no memory of the duration. It's notoriously known as the Date Rape drug for that reason. I was given FOUR of them to swallow - thereby making it oral, by definition. It sedated me - they were able to instruct me to open my mouth, turn my head to the side, etc - but I had zero conscious knowledge of it. When I woke up I had no memory of it at all. If it hurt, I don't recall it. If they asked me to dance a j.i.g. (why the heck is a common old fashioned irish dance style filtered out...sheesh) on the operating table, I have no recollection of it.
That is one of the different types of oral sedation. It doesn't just mean a valium or xanax. It's any drug delivered orally that creates a sedative effect.
Read my post again. I am a periodontist - I know what sedation means. I know what oral means. I am merely trying to explain to the OP why some people are saying oral sedation knocked them out while others are saying it had no effect, so that they (along with their doctor) can make the most informed decision for their child. It's because ANY sedative given via the ORAL route is not as predictable compared to the IV route. With oral drugs, the pills come in preset doses a majority of the drug is lost in the digestive process. The doctor has no idea how much the remaining drug will effect the patient because of differences in weight, medical history, etc. IV drugs bypass the digestive process, so you get the full effect and it can be titrated as needed during the procedure. The doctor controls the entire amount of medication that enters the bloodstream. They are not wondering how much is lost in the stomach. If the patient takes an oral sedative for their procedure and is still wide awake and talking, what are you going to do, just feed them more pills and wait a few hours hoping something happens? Not an issue with IV sedation - patient starts waking up, just push a little more juice until you see the (almost immediate) desired effect. Much safer because you know EXACTLY how much of the sedative drug is in their system.
I am glad oral sedation worked for you. It does not work for everyone - I know from years of experience.
By the way, Halcion is not "notoriously known as the Date Rape drug" - that is flunitrazepam/Rohypnol (a different benzo).
That isn't the only reason, and as a periodontist you would know that. Some patients need to be more heavily sedated than others, and some treatments require heavier sedation than others. Sometimes it's just that simple. The guy who's just really nervous about being in a dentist's office with no full-blown phobia could do just fine with a .5 mg Xanax. The one who's going to have surgery to pull up the gum flap and scrape out some bone spurs and crack out a wisdom tooth buried deep into the lower jawline will probably need something stronger than a xanax, so they'd get drugs in a dose that will provide it. It might only be oral, but it still might be strong enough to send them to la-la land for a couple of hours.
Also, both of those medicines have been used and publically noted, as date rape drugs.
That isn't the only reason, and as a periodontist you would know that. I'm not sure what you mean by that. Some patients need to be more heavily sedated than others, and some treatments require heavier sedation than others. Sometimes it's just that simple. No argument there, that's what IV sedation does - you can give the EXACT amount you need instead of wondering how much they used up in their stomach. The guy who's just really nervous about being in a dentist's office with no full-blown phobia could do just fine with a .5 mg Xanax. Maybe, maybe not. The one who's going to have surgery to pull up the gum flap and scrape out some bone spurs and crack out a wisdom tooth buried deep into the lower jawline will probably need something stronger than a Xanax Again - maybe, maybe not, so they'd get drugs in a dose that will provide it. And how will you determine that dose? It might only be oral, but it still might be strong enough to send them to la-la land for a couple of hours. So it "might" be strong enough? If you were the patient having surgery, would you rather have a sedation method that "might" work or would you rather have one that WILL work? What if you took the pills and then were still wide awake when the surgery was about to start? What if you were in la-la land but it only lasted a few minutes and you still had 1.5 hours of surgery time left? What would you do then? Grin and bear it and be miserable? Try to leave in the middle of the procedure? I am asking serious questions because all of these things have happened in my office before.
You seem to be missing the point completely. The OP asked if oral sedation would be effective for his/her child and got conflicting answers. This is because ANY ORAL sedation is unpredictable in its effects. What I am suggesting is to skip oral sedation altogether and go the IV route because it is more predictable. It has nothing to do with the type of drug you are using in this case. It is the route. I have explained in a previous post WHY IV sedation is more predictable than oral sedation, but clearly you are not understanding that even though as you put it, "sometimes it's just that simple".
Also, both of those medicines have been used and publically noted, as date rape drugs. ANY benzo can be use for that, however you confidently stated that Halcion is "notoriously known as the Date Rape drug". Rohypnol is by far more infamous for date rape than Halcion. The term "Roofie" is a slang on Rohypnol. When was the last time you heard someone said they were "Halcion-ed"?
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