A prospective randomised controlled study of patient‐controlled propofol sedation in phobic dental patients

The safety and effectiveness of patient‐controlled propofol sedation was prospectively assessed in 18 healthy, phobic dental patients. Using a randomised, crossover design each patient received two sessions of equivalent dental treatment under patient‐controlled or clinician‐controlled propofol sedation. The patient‐controlled technique used 29.8% less drug (time‐weighted dose) than the clinician‐controlled method (p = 0.011). There was a high correlation between number of demands and number of doses actually infused during the patient‐controlled technique (r = 0.99, p