In short: your practice looks after the dentistry, the treatment room and the appointment book, and sends each referral by a secure channel agreed in advance. The anaesthetist looks after each patient's assessment and anaesthetic consent, the sedation or anaesthetic itself, monitoring, recovery and the decision that a patient can leave. Equipment, the assistant's role and recovery observation are settled before the first session.
Who looks after what
Your practice
- the dental treatment plan, the dental consent and the treatment
- the treatment room, the chair, and a clear route out of the building for a stretcher
- booking patients into the list and keeping the appointment book
- sending referral details through the agreed secure channel
- dental records and the written dental aftercare
The anaesthetist
- reviewing each patient's health and deciding whether the practice setting suits them
- consent for the sedation or anaesthetic, including the anaesthetic fee
- individual instructions about eating, drinking and medicines
- giving the sedation or anaesthetic and monitoring the patient throughout
- overseeing recovery and authorising each patient's discharge
- the anaesthetic record
Settled before the first session
- which monitoring equipment, oxygen, suction, emergency equipment and medicines the anaesthetist brings, and which the practice supplies
- who acts as the anaesthetist's assistant: ANZCA's sedation guideline requires an assistant to be exclusively available while sedation is started and while the patient emerges from it
- where patients recover and who observes them there until discharge
- the written escalation plan for a patient who deteriorates, including calling an ambulance
- who a patient calls with a question about the anaesthetic after going home
Sharing patient information
A referral is health information, which Australian privacy law treats as sensitive. Three habits keep it protected.
- Keep it off this website. The booking enquiry form collects practice and session details only. The website is not designed to receive health information and does not store what is sent through it.
- Use the channel you agreed. Before the first session, you and the anaesthetist agree a secure way to send referrals, such as a secure clinical messaging service. Do not send health information by ordinary, unencrypted email or text message. The Australian Digital Health Agency explains why secure messaging between providers matters.
- Tell the patient where it is going. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner says a health service should explain why it collects health information, how it stores and protects it and who it may be disclosed to. Let patients know their details will be sent to the anaesthetist to plan their care.
What a referral usually contains
| Item | Why the anaesthetist needs it |
|---|---|
| Full name, date of birth and contact details, plus a parent or guardian’s details where relevant | To reach the right person for the health review and consent |
| The planned dental treatment and its likely length | It shapes the depth and duration of sedation or anaesthesia |
| Medical history, current medicines and allergies, as far as the practice knows them | A starting point for the health review, not a substitute for it |
| Any earlier difficulty with sedation or anaesthesia that the patient has mentioned | It can change the plan or the setting |
| Copies of relevant letters from the patient’s doctors | Fewer repeated questions and less delay |
| Whether a professional interpreter is needed | Consent has to be properly informed |
| The staff member to contact about this referral | Questions reach the right person quickly |
When you book patients into the list
Reception staff are often the first to answer a patient’s questions about the anaesthetic. These points keep the answers consistent.
- The health review comes first. Explain that the anaesthetist needs to review the patient’s health before the session and will talk with them about consent and the anaesthetic fee, and tell them how that contact will happen.
- Pass on the anaesthetist’s instructions word for word. Do not give your own fasting times or advice about stopping or changing medicines. Instructions differ from patient to patient. ANZCA’s patient page on fasting is useful background, but the written instructions given to the patient take priority.
- Check the trip home. Each patient needs a responsible adult to take them home after sedation or anaesthesia. Ask who it will be when you book, not on the day.
- Report changes promptly. If a patient mentions a new illness, a change in medicines or a change in their health before the session, pass it to the anaesthetist rather than deciding yourself whether treatment goes ahead.
- Point patients to their page. The patient information page explains who does what and links to plain-English guides.
On the session day
- The room is set up as agreed, and each item of equipment is checked by whoever supplies it.
- The assistant’s role is filled by the person agreed beforehand, free of other duties while sedation starts and while each patient wakes.
- The dentist concentrates on the treatment and the anaesthetist on the anaesthetic. ANZCA’s sedation guideline expects one practitioner to be responsible solely for monitoring the patient when anaesthetic agents are used.
- Each patient leaves with their responsible adult once the anaesthetist has authorised discharge, taking the practice’s dental aftercare and the anaesthetist’s instructions.
- If a patient deteriorates, the escalation plan is followed. Call 000 for an ambulance whenever the plan or the anaesthetist says so.
After each session
Dental questions come back to your practice. Questions about the anaesthetic go to the contact agreed before the first session. It is worth a short conversation after each list about anything that did not go to plan, so that the next session can be adjusted.
The Victorian Department of Health’s information for dentists using mobile anaesthesia is a two-page sheet that every practice hosting sessions should keep on file.
Sources
- ANZCA. PG09(G) Guideline on procedural sedation (sections 7.1, 7.2, 7.5, 9.1, 9.3 and 13.4). December 2023.
- ANZCA. PG07 Guideline on pre-anaesthesia consultation and patient preparation. June 2024; Appendix 1 June 2026.
- ANZCA. PS26(A) Position statement on informed consent for anaesthesia or sedation. April 2021.
- ANZCA. Professional documents (including PS55 minimum facilities and PG18 monitoring during anaesthesia). Accessed 2 Nov 2026.
- ANZCA. Fasting before your surgery (patient information). Page modified 26 Oct 2026.
- Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Handling health information. 10 Mar 2023.
- Australian Digital Health Agency. Why is secure messaging between healthcare providers important?. 27 Mar 2019.
- Victorian Department of Health. Information for dentists and interventional radiologists using mobile anaesthesia. 13 May 2019.
- Written by
- Altitude Creative, for The Australian Dental Anaesthetic Group
- Clinical reviewer
- In progress
- Review date
- Clinical review in progress
- Next review due
- Set at clinical review
How the information on this website is prepared, reviewed and corrected: disclaimer.
In an emergency, call 000. This information is general and does not replace advice from your treating practitioner.