Changes to dental sedation advance

Lawmakers gave first-round approval April 14 to a bill that would change the permitting process for dentists to administer sedation.

Grand Island Sen. Mike Gloor, sponsor of LB80, said the bill would bring Nebraska law into alignment with American Dental Association recommendations. The sedation portion of Nebraska law that regulates the practice of dentistry has not been updated since 1986, he said.

“Although the bill looks complex, it’s just an updating of the laws relating to anesthesia that dentists can use for dental work,” Gloor said. “It’s a bill brought to us by dentists to improve the safety and care that they provide to patients.”

The bill would replace the current permitting process for general anesthesia with separate permits for minimal, moderate and deep sedation. The bill also would update education and training requirements for dentists and correlate incident reporting with the new definitions.

Under the bill, a dentist licensed in Nebraska would be allowed to administer inhalation analgesia in the practice of dentistry without a permit.

Gloor said the bill’s July 1, 2016 operative date would allow time for rules and regulations to be adopted by the state Board of Dentistry and for current permits to be used through their renewal dates.

Lincoln Sen. Kathy Campbell supported LB80, saying the changes included in the bill were endorsed at all three stages of review by a technical committee, the state Board of Health and the state’s chief medical officer.

In addition, she said, the bill resulted from the desire of dentists to make their practice safer for patients.

“I think the profession should be commended,” Campbell said.

The bill advanced to select file 36-0.