When Should You Bring in an Anesthesiologist for IV Sedation?

Author
By: Dental Learning
7/13/2026

Overview

Involving an anesthesia provider isn’t a backup plan. It’s a clinical decision made to maintain 
safety, control, and consistency throughout the procedure.

Roughly 93 million Americans report some level of dental fear, and for many of them, that fear 
is enough to delay, or altogether avoid the dentist. Thankfully, sedation dentistry has broken 
barriers to care for these patients. However, it also raises an important clinical question: When 
does a patient move beyond routine sedation and require an anesthesia specialist?