Subanaesthetic Dosage of Althesin as a Sedative for Conservative Dentistry

Abstract

A randomized partial cross-over clinical trial of two intravenous techniques for outpatient conservative dentistry was performed in 61 patients. Subanaesthetic incremental doses of Althesin were used at 52 sessions and a single sedative dose of diazepam at 45 sessions. Each technique produced similar cardiovascular and respiratory changes. With Althesin, recovery after operation was more rapid and there was some evidence of a stronger anxiolytic effect and of less frequent and less severe thrombophlebitis. In contrast, Althesin was sometimes associated with jaw tremor or shivering and was less frequently mentioned by those patients who expressed a strong preference for one of the two techniques.

Two-Stage Infusion of Chlormethiazole for Basal Sedation

“…sedative agent as it produces easy control of the depth of sedation and allows rapid awakening on termination of the infusion. Benzodiazepines (Scott, 1975;Gjessing and Tomlin, 1977) and Althesin (Dixon et al, 1976) have been advocated for this purpose. Unfortunately, the benzodiazepines are eliminated slowly: the total body clearance of diazepam is 0.02-0.03 litre min" 1 with a half-life of approximately 30 h in normal man (Klotz et al, 1975).…”

Outpatient sedation for oral surgery

“…The average lowest respiratory rate recorded was 18 (range [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] and there was no respiratory obstruction. The average fall in systolic pressure was 10.546 (range 0-23%).…”