The American Dental Association's Council on Dental Education and Licensure published new sedation guidelines to provide direction for teaching of pediatric pain control to dentists and dental students.
Published in June, the guidelines are designed to complement standards from the American Academy of Pediatrics and American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.
According to the teaching guidelines, students should acquire the knowledge and skills to administer local anesthesia and nitrous oxide inhalation sedation to both adult and pediatric patients. Sedation of pediatric patients may pose a higher risk than sedation of adult patients, according to the ADA council.