Sedation and Anesthesia
RCDSO Sedation and Anesthesia Standard
The RCDSO has implemented the Standard of Practice – Use of Sedation and General Anesthesia in Dental Practice (The Standard of Practice).
The Standard of Practice reflects RCDSO’s commitment to protecting the public’s right to safe, quality health care services through development and enforcement of professional standards.
The Standard of Practice sets the minimum requirements all dentists and authorized physicians must meet when administering sedation or general anesthesia in a dental practice.
Authorizations and Facility Permits
All dentists that administer sedation or general anesthesia in a dental facility must maintain current sedation authorization. To verify whether a dentist has the required sedation authorization, search the public register.
Authorizations to administer sedation expire annually on March 31st. Dentists must renew their authorization if they wish to continue administering sedation. For more information, see the renewal section.
All dental facilities where sedation is administered must comply with the Standard of Practice. Dental facilities where practitioners administer oral moderate, parenteral conscious sedation, deep sedation or general anesthesia must have a current facility permit.
Dental facilities where dentists only administer minimal sedation (nitrous oxide and oxygen sedation or oral minimal sedation) do not require a sedation facility permit. To verify whether a dental facility has a sedation facility permit, search the public register using the facility permit search.
Sedation facility permits expire annually on March 31st. The facility permit holder must renew the facility permit if they wish to continue having practitioners administer sedation at that dental facility. For more information, see the renewal section.
Physicians that administer sedation or general anesthesia in a dental facility are required to register with RCDSO prior to administering sedation or general anesthesia in the dental facility and must maintain active registration with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. Physicians only have to apply once. They are not required to renew their registration with RCDSO.