What’s new in... Capnography Monitoring for Dental Conscious Sedation: A Clinical Review

Capnography monitoring during conscious sedation is not currently required for dentistry in Britain and Ireland. Other countries have introduced guidelines and standards requiring capnography monitoring for procedural sedation. This review highlights the variability of procedural sedation including the setting, the position on the sedation continuum, and the routine use of supplemental oxygen. Specific research is required for conscious sedation in a dental setting to support standards and guidelines with regard to capnography monitoring. The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and their Faculties emphasise that each specialty must produce its own guidance for the use of sedative techniques.1 Clinical practice guidelines for the monitoring and safe practice of sedation vary by specialty and institution. Standards are generally set from the best available evidence based research. There is a growing body of literature that recognises the potential additional value of capnography (ETCO2) monitoring during procedural sedation in different settings and for different sedation techniques.2-5 In these studies, capnography reduced the incidence of hypoxaemia during procedural sedation. A meta-analysis published by Waugh et al. (2010) concluded that end-tidal carbon dioxide monitoring is an important addition in detecting respiratory depression during procedural sedation.6 A more recent systematic review by Conway et al. (2016) concluded that patients monitored with capnography in addition to standard monitoring had a reduced risk of hypoxaemia compared to those with only standard monitoring.7 However, it has to be noted that both the Waugh and Conway reviews contained substantial statistical heterogenicity which is likely to affect the quality of the evidence. As research evidence for capnography monitoring from the medical settings studied became available, new standards for capnography monitoring were introduced in several countries (Table 1).