 Background Intravenous sedation allows procedures to be performed in dentistry, and other areas of medicine beyond the operating room. Its application in each area is tailored to the requirements of the relevant procedure, the setting and the levels of operator training and expertise. The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges emphasises that each speciality must produce its own form of guidance in the use of sedative techniques. The following definition for conscious sedation in dentistry is accepted by the General Dental Council and the Dental Sedation Teachers Group: A technique in which the use of a drug or drugs produces a state of depression of the central nervous system enabling treatment to be carried out, but during which verbal contact with the patient is maintained throughout the period of sedation. The drugs and techniques used to provide conscious sedation for dental treatment should carry a margin of safety wide enough to render loss of consciousness unlikely. The Standing Dental Advisory Committee Guidance 2003, which remains the standard of guidance in the UK, further states: Any technique resulting in the loss of consciousness is defined as general anaesthesia and in the UKm deep sedation is considered within this category. To summarise; dental sedation lies within the range of minimal to moderate sedation on the sedation continuum i.e. conscious sedation. Deep sedation is to be avoided in this setting. 