The fear of pain, the sound of drilling, and separation from parents make many children anxious when they go to a dentist’s office. Dentists often use nitrous oxide or moderately sedating drinks to ease children’s worries, so they can cooperate.
Despite this, some children still will not tolerate any dental procedures. In addition, extensive work requires children to remain calm and still for impossibly long amounts of time. For these children, I come to the dental office and provide a deeper level of sedation, eliminating all fears and ensuring that anxious children will cooperate and allow the dentist to complete dental care safely and efficiently.
There was a time when anesthesia was only administered in hospitals, but with today’s ultra-compact anesthesia equipment, I create a convenient and safe surgery center setting for dental sedation. Your child can avoid the inconvenience and expense of a hospital visit while experiencing minimal to no awareness of the dental procedure with mobile office anesthesia.
For your child’s procedure, I will provide anesthesia using state-of-the-art equipment in a precise, safe manner. By avoiding expensive hospital facility fees, you may save thousands of dollars compared to what you would pay to have the same procedure at the hospital.
The Hawaii dental board highly regulates who may provide dental anesthesia and enforces detailed, stringent standards stating what special equipment and drugs must be present. I always surpass these standards and use the most advanced, compact, hospital grade equipment and monitors.
EATING AND DRINKING: For safety, it is extremely important that your child have an empty stomach. Vomiting of food during anesthesia may be life threatening. For this reason, on the day of the appointment, your child must not have any food or milk for 8 hours prior to the procedure. If he or she eats, the sedation will be rescheduled. Eating colored gelatin or drinking water, sports drinks, apple juice, or other beverages that are also transparent and pulp-free up to 4 hours before the time of the appointment is acceptable.
An adult must supervise the child constantly on the day of the appointment to make sure the child does not eat. Do not leave your child unattended or send your child to school or day care.
Supervision: Anesthetic medications may cause drowsiness and impair coordination. Therefore, a responsible adult must directly supervise your child for 12 hours following the anesthesia. Until recovery is complete, allow your child to rest and observe him or her closely. Do not allow swimming, biking, skating, or playing with other children.
EATING: Limit oral intake to liquids for the first few hours. Begin with water and follow with clear juice. If teeth were extracted, do not use a straw. Soft food may be consumed following the liquids. If your child is not hungry, do not force him or her to eat, but encourage as much liquid as tolerated.
Please contact us if you cannot find an answer to your question.
After the treatment, children tend to emerge rapidly from anesthesia feeling pain free, a little disoriented, and comfortably rested. Usually, patients can safely leave the office 30-45 minutes after the procedure. It is common to sleep part of the day, eat a light meal and be fresh and completely recuperated by the next morning. Complications are highly unusual with my technique.
I personally perform all aspects of the anesthetic, and your child will remain under my direct, constant supervision until discharged home. You rarely find a medical doctor like me sedating dental patients. Usually, if sedation is offered, it is provided by a dentist. The skills and medical judgment I have refined over years of hospital work caring for critically ill children and adults during complex operations should give you confidence that your child will be safe in my hands.
After earning a B.A. degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, I completed medical school training at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan New York, one year internship at UCSF and 3 additional years of specialized anesthesia residency training at Loma Linda University Medical center in Southern California. This program is considered one of the top anesthesia training programs. I served on the Loma Linda clinical faculty as an assistant professor where I trained anesthesia residents performing scientific research in the field of anesthesia. I have extensive experience in dental anesthesia and have cooperated directly with the Hawaii dental board on issues of dental anesthesia safety.
I will contact you prior to the scheduled dental procedure to find out about any health problems your child may have, review the eating and drinking instructions, and discuss the details of his or her personalized anesthesia plan.
At the time of the dental appointment, the parent usually walks the child into the procedure area. The child sits in the parent’s lap and goes to sleep by taking a few breathes of a bubble gum flavored gas while I tell a simple story. After the parent returns to the waiting area. I painlessly start a child sized intravenous line, attach the monitoring equipment, and deepen the anesthetic to the required level.
For the patients with disabilities or those who cannot cooperate, I may start the anesthesia while still in the waiting area by injecting relaxing medicine into your child’s arm. This feels like a vaccination. After 3 minutes, your child will be drowsy and will not recall anything further.
At the end of the procedure, the dentist will meet you in the waiting area and discuss what was done. I will continue monitoring your child and reunite the two of you as soon as he or she begins to wake up. Although your child may be grumpy for a little while, there are no long-term side effects.
Dr. Campbell is a medical doctor and follows the best practices standards outlined by the American Society of Anesthesiologist and the AMA. He is not a member of the Dental Board of Hawaii since he's anesthesiology practice is available for all medical professionals, not just dentists. Dr. Campbell does work closely with the board to get certain offices certified as he is the only anesthesiologist in the state performing dental anesthesia. Dr. Campbell also has privileges with Queen's Hospital, Kuakini, Pali Momi and various outpatient surgery suites.
The following dental offices are certified with the Dental Board of Hawaii and have worked with Dr. Campbell for anesthesia services:
1. Dr. Ron Patel General & Cosmetic dentistry 808-955-0008
2. Dr. Richard Miyamoto General & Implant dentistry 808-596-2622
3. Dr. Braden Seamons Periodontal dentistry 808-596-7788
4. Dr. Cedric Lewis General & Cosmetic dentistry 808-732-4377
5. Dr. Gary Umeda General & Airway Focused dentistry 808-942-9420
The estimated anesthesia fee is based upon the dentist’s estimate procedure time plus 90 minutes. Depending on how much time the dentist actually takes to complete the procedure, the actual charge may be greater than or less than the estimate. My minimum charge is for two hours. I require a deposit to confirm your sedation appointment. Payment of the balance of the fee is due at the procedure’s conclusion.
The anesthesia fee is separate from the dentist’s and is not typically covered by dental policies in Hawai’i. Hawai’i state does not mandate this coverage children as in other states. It is encouraged that patients with medical problems or disabilities to reach out their health insurance as some of the anesthesia fees may be covered.
While the above was written for parents with children needing sedation. There are a wide variety of patients whom benefit from mobile office anesthesia include but are not limited to
1) Young children
2) Autistic or special needs patients
3) Dental phobic patients
4) Patients with dementia or other medical problems
5) Patients who want to get their dental work done in one sitting vs multiple visits.
6) Patients who just want the comfort of sleep dentistry.
7) Patients allergic to local anesthetics
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