Parental awareness, knowledge, and attitude toward conscious sedation in North Indian children population: A questionnaire-based study.

AIM: The purpose of this study is to find the opinion, attitude, beliefs, and the existing knowledge of parents of Himachal Pradesh suburban city about conscious sedation.

OBJECTIVE: To know the effect of education of parent and prior sedation experience of the child on opinion, attitude, and knowledge of parent about conscious sedation.

METHODOLOGY: A questionnaire in Hindi/English was provided to parents who accompanied their child for the treatment in the Paedodontics Department of HPGDC College Shimla. Information regarding demography, existing knowledge gained through television, the internet, opinion about the safety of the procedure, knowledge of nothing by mouth guidelines, restraints usage, and knowing their preferences of staying with the child during treatment was explored. Questions were straight yes or no type and multiple choice type. Some questions were statements and wanted the respondents to strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: A total of 350 questionnaires were collected. Parents feel sedation is safe in the dental office as an adjunct to dental treatment. Education played a role in existing knowledge about sedation and perception about the safety of conscious sedation.