[Sedation with midazolam for ambulatory pediatric dentistry].

OBJECTIVE: To improve the quality of dental treatment in children by using combined anaesthesia technique including local anaesthesia and conscious sedation, and to assess the effectiveness of conscious sedation for younger children undergoing dental treatment.

METHODS: The study included 208 children aged 14-88 months who received dental treatment for tooth decay and its complication under combined anaesthesia. Midazolam was used as sedative medication. Sedation level was assessed by visual scale and BIS-monitoring. ANI-monitoring was also used for pain sensitiveness evaluation. Results All 208 children were successfully treated under combined anaesthesia which showed satisfactory sedation rates both by visual scale and and BIS-monitoring values. While mean patient age was 39 months 20.6% were younger than 24 months. These data are extremely valuable as according to literature review conscious sedation in early infancy remains controversial.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results proved conscious sedation to be effective in younger children undergoing dental treatment thus representing important alternative for general anaesthesia and providing a basis for later behavior management.