OSA and dental procedure under 'twilight sedation'

[SnoozyQ]

Has anyone had to undergo an 'in office' dental procedure under sedation with OSA?
Your mouth would be open, so that negates any air pressure from a nasal mask...so that's not going to help.

I would hate to have any type of choking/gasping episodes while there are sharp objects in my mouth.

[unsuspected Severe OSA]

Just two years before I was diagnosed, I had two long dental procedures; one with IV sedation & one with Valium only, both hooked up to a EKG, oxygen and B/P monitoring. Both went smoothly. Plus, I was slightly upright in the dental recliner. Ask that they monitor similarly.

[Kairosgrammy]

I have had troubles with my teeth for a long time and finally, about a year & 1/2 ago, I decided to get dentures. I still had 20 of my own natural teeth in varying states of disrepair, including 4 crowns, 4 broken teeth. I just didn't think I could handle the teeth pulling thing wide awake and so did ask for sedation. Didn't even think about the OSA issue.

I'm assuming "laughing gas" sedation and you really aren't asleep, asleep. More like being in "outer space" and you really don't give a toot. Also had valium. I was aware of some of what was going on even but didn't have that anxiety. Of course, we all react differently to different drugs. I have a friend who has to take child doses of everything because she is so sensitive to anything.

Dental work has always made me very, very nervous and having a dentist who said, now if it hurts, raise your hand since if you jerk, I could take half your mouth out with this drill. It hurt!!! And increased my dental anxiety!!! Seeing as you really aren't completely reclined, that also helps. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to make the dentist aware of OSA issue and have everything monitored.

Has anyone had to undergo an 'in office' dental procedure under sedation with OSA?
Your mouth would be open, so that negates any air pressure from a nasal mask...so that's not going to help.

I would hate to have any type of choking/gasping episodes while there are sharp objects in my mouth.

[ems]

I recently had some dental work done and had the "laughing gas" as well. I so hate going to dentists. It went just fine... never even thought about sleep apnea.

[Kairosgrammy]

I wonder why they call it laughing gas. I was not amused at any point in time

I recently had some dental work done and had the "laughing gas" as well. I so hate going to dentists. It went just fine... never even thought about sleep apnea.

[DreamLady]

I had two teeth extracted under twilight sedation. I didn't feel or remember a thing, which was great! I asked about apneas at my initial consultation and explained my OSA was severe. The Doctor's answer was that my heart would be monitored, as would my oxygenation, and usually even severe apnics do fine with this type of sedation. It's not the 'deep' sedation of general anesthesia, and you are actually semi-awake enough to continue breathing normally. If there was a problem, they would reduce the amount of Versed. He said he had done thousands of extractions on cpap users with no problems with O2 desats.

First thing they did when I arrived in the room was hook me up to a heart monitor, blood pressure machine, and oxygen sensor, and hooked me up with an oxygen canula. They then started an IV and gave me a few whiffs of the laughing gas just before starting the IV sedation. Things got fuzzy after that!

But I didn't wake up with a headache, and they said my O2 sats were well above 90% the entire time I was under.