[Classification of local anesthesia methods]. / Klassifikatsiya sposobov mestnoi anestezii.

The traditional classification methods of dental local anesthesia must be modified. In this paper we proved that the vascular mechanism is leading component of spongy injection. It is necessary to take into account the high effectiveness and relative safety of spongy anesthesia, as well as versatility, ease of implementation and the growing prevalence in the world. The essence of the proposed modification is to distinguish the methods in diffusive (including surface anesthesia, infiltration and conductive anesthesia) and vascular-diffusive (including intraosseous, intraligamentary, intraseptal and intrapulpal anesthesia). For the last four methods the common term «spongy (intraosseous) anesthesia¼ may be used.

Parental perceptions of dental visits and access to dental care among disabled schoolchildren in Kuwait.

The objective of this study was to describe dental visiting habits and access to dental care among the disabled schoolchildren in Kuwait. A total of 308 parents of children with a physical disability (n = 211), Down syndrome (n = 97) and teachers, who had normal children (n = 112) participated in the study. Less than one-fourth (21%) of the disabled children and 37% of the normal children had never visited a dentist (p = 0.003). Majority of Down syndrome (72%) and physically disabled children (59%) received curative dental care compared to 47% of normal children (p = 0.016). A bigger proportion of disabled children (42%) visited the dentist due to tooth ache than the normal ones (25%) (p < 0.01). Only 9.6% of Down syndrome children perceived no barriers to seek the dental care compared to 26.2% of physically disabled and 32.2% of normal children (p = 0.008). Difficulty to get an appointment was the most common perceived barrier to dental care by parents of Down syndrome children and the normal children (37.3%). Parents of disabled children considered difficulty in cooperation as a more important barrier to treatment (34.7%) than the parents of normal children (20.3%). Larger proportion of parents of normal children (82%) rated the present dental services as excellent/good compared to 52% of the parents of disabled children (p < 0.001). Toothache and curative treatment need were the main reasons for dental visits among disabled children. Regular dental check-ups and preventive oral health care should be encouraged for comprehensive coverage of the national school oral health program for the disabled in Kuwait.

Sedation of the pediatric patient.

Children's behavior during dental treatment is often unpredictable. Many techniques for behavior management have been developed and include both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic methods. Pharmacologic management with sedation has been shown to be an important adjunct in treating the fearful, uncooperative or precommunicative patient. This article reviews the definitions, levels, techniques and pharmacology of typical drugs used for sedation. The protocols for safe management of children before, during and after sedation are also discussed.

Sedation scales and measures--a literature review.

The monitoring and assessment of the degree of conscious sedation experienced by patients is important for both clinical practice and in research. Whereas clinical monitoring remains the gold standard for safety in patient care, numerous measures are available to supplement this and to provide quantitative data on level of sedation. This manuscript provides an overview of existing measures of the degree of sedation. Scales that have been used in published research were identified from a search of Medline and Google Scholar, and for each scale we identified the characteristics of the scale and degree to which the reliability and validity of the scale had been measured.

Long-term effectiveness of four pulpotomy techniques: 3-year randomised controlled trial.

A pulpotomy is the therapy for management of pulp exposures due to caries in symptom-free primary molars. The aim was to longitudinally compare the relative effectiveness of the Er:YAG laser, calcium hydroxide and ferric sulphate techniques with dilute formocresol in retaining symptom-free molars. Two hundred primary molars in 107 healthy children were included and randomly allocated to one technique. The treated teeth were blindly reevaluated after 6, 12, 18, 24 and 36 months. Descriptive data analysis and logistic regression analysis accounting for multiple observations per patient by generalised estimating equation were used. Additionally, various influences including tooth type, upper and lower jaws, type of anaesthesia, operator and the final restoration on treatment success were evaluated (Wald chi-square test). After 36 months, the following total (considering clinical and clinically symptom-free radiographic failures) and clinical success rates were determined (in percent): Formocresol 72 (92), laser 73 (89), calcium hydroxide 46 (75), ferric sulphate 76 (97). No significant differences were detected between formocresol and any other technique after 36 months. However, the odds ratio of failure appeared to be three times higher for calcium hydroxide than for formocresol. No significant differences in total success rates were seen regarding the aforementioned influencing clinical parameters. The correct diagnosis of the pulpal status, bleeding control and the specific technique are highly important for long-term success of pulpotomies in primary molars. According to the presented long-term data, pulpotomies using ferric sulphate revealed the best treatment outcome among the used techniques, while calcium hydroxide resulted in the lowest success rates after 3 years. Therefore, we can recommend ferric sulphate for easy and successful treatment of primary molars with caries-exposed pulps.

The use of sedation in the dental outpatient setting: a web-based survey of dentists.

There were 7276 e-mail requests sent to dentists in the United States and Canada requesting participation in a short web-based survey to update earlier information regarding the use of dental outpatient sedation. Participants were questioned regarding their use of dental outpatient sedation, including the frequency of use, type of sedation used, route ofadministration, medications used, physiologic monitoring employed, and availability qfantagonist medications and an automated external defibrillator In comparison to earlier studies, the use of outpatient dental sedation continues to change. The use of enteral sedation may be increasing, but now is differentiated by minimal and moderate sedation with different training requirements. The use of parenteral sedation by practitioners also appears to be increasing.

Guideline for monitoring and management of pediatric patients during and after sedation for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.

The safe sedation of children for procedures requires a systematic approach that includes the following: no administration of sedating medication without the safety net of medical supervision, careful presedation evaluation for underlying medical or surgical conditions that would place the child at increased risk from sedating medications, appropriate fasting for elective procedures and a balance between depth of sedation and risk for those who are unable to fast because of the urgent nature of the procedure, a focused airway examination for large tonsils or anatomic airway abnormalities that might increase the potential for airway obstruction, a clear understanding of the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic effects of the medications used for sedation as well as an appreciation for drug interactions, appropriate training and skills in airway management to allow rescue of the patient, age- and size-appropriate equipment for airway management and venous access, appropriate medications and reversal agents, sufficient numbers of people to both carry out the procedure and monitor the patient, appropriate physiologic monitoring during and after the procedure, a properly equipped and staffed recovery area, recovery to presedation level of consciousness before discharge from medical supervision, and appropriate discharge instructions.

A comparison of 2 consultation and treatment strategies to manage impacted third molars.

PURPOSE: This study compares the postoperative complication rates of 2 strategies for the evaluation and operative management (E&M) of patients with impacted third molars (M3s). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used a retrospective cohort study design and a sample composed of patients who had M3s extracted between 1985 and 2000. The predictor variable was the E&M strategy defined as 1) same-day surgery (SDS) in which the consultation and procedure were performed on the same day and 2) consult prior to surgery (CPS) in which the consultation and procedure were separated in time by more than 24 hours. The outcome variable was postoperative complications. Descriptive and bivariate statistics were computed and a multivariate model was developed to measure the relationship between E&M strategies and postoperative complications. RESULTS: The sample was composed of 5,993 patients (mean age, 23.7 years; 61% female), and 1,556 patients (26%) were classified as having SDS. Overall, 36% of patients reported one or more postoperative complications. Variables included in the multivariate model were E&M strategy (SDS or CPS), age, gender, number of M3s removed, tobacco exposure, and type of anesthesia. Based on the results of the multivariate model, SDS was not associated with an increased risk for postoperative complications (P =.08). CONCLUSIONS: Optimal operative management of M3s would minimize the number of visits, maximize operator efficiency, and minimize morbidity. In comparison with CPS, SDS minimizes the number of patient visits without an increased risk for complications.