Best local anaesthetic practice guidelines for the medically compromised and vulnerable patients

Session Overview:

Dentists are increasingly confronted with medically compromised patients, young, elderly, pregnant and the medically compromised. So how do we approach anaesthesia in these patients. What do we need to know and look for to achieve successful safe anaesthesia. In practice we have a variety of analgesic agents, injectables drugs (articaine, lidocaine, mepivacaine) solutions with or without vasoconstrictors, topicals (gels, solutions) and techniques of administration that need to be chosen by the dentist appropriately to achieve a safe, minimally invasive and predictable anaesthesia.

We will discuss when and how to use local analgesia to control pain in children, adolescents, the elderly and medically compromised individuals, using the correct choice, dosage and correct routine that results in a positive predictable pain management outcome.

Learning outcomes:

1. Identify the variety of analgesics and techniques available and how they differ.
2. Discuss the considerations and limitations of anaesthesia whilst working with the vulnerable and medically compromised patient.
3. Plan and provide safe and effective anaesthesia related care for the full range of dental patients.