What is the evidence for paediatric dental sedation?

Background and rationale Sedation can be used to relieve anxiety and manage behaviour in children, unfortunately it is difficult to determine from published research which agents, dosages and techniques are effective. Objective To evaluate the relative efficacy of the various conscious sedation techniques and dosages for behaviour management in paediatric dentistry. Design and key methods Relevant databases and reference lists from articles were searched up to December 2005. Studies were selected if they met the following criteria: randomised controlled trials of conscious sedation comparing two or more drugs/techniques/placebo undertaken by the dentist or one of the dental team in anxious children up to 16 years of age. Results Sixty-five studies were included with 3372 subjects in total. Overall quality of studies was found to be disappointing with poor reporting often the main problem. Conclusions Authors were not able to reach any definitive conclusion on which was the most effective drug or method of sedation used for anxious children due to issues with the quality and validity of published studies to date.