Minnesota Dentist's Become Bathroom Monitor
Adult oral conscious sedation patients in Minnesota who need to use the bathroom anytime after they’ve received their initial dose of medication can now count on their dentists coming into the restroom and even individual toilet stalls with them.
Makes no difference if the dentist is male and the patient female or vice versa. Effective March 19, 2007, qualified dentists – not trained (same gender) members of their staff – must remain at all times with a patient who is still under the effects of oral conscious sedation (OCS).
The new regulation raises all order of potential bathroom embarrassments. If a dentist needs to use the bathroom once an adult patient has received sedation, the dentist by law must take the patient with him (or her).
This is no joke.
In fact, it has dentists in Minnesota facing a real quandary of how to manage patients during what are often multi-hour treatments using oral conscious sedation. Prior to the new regulations, male dentists routinely sent a trained female staff member to accompany female patients to the bathroom or felt safe leaving a trained staff member with the patient while they made their own restroom stop.
This is no longer permitted in Minnesota.
Makes no difference if the dentist is male and the patient female or vice versa. Effective March 19, 2007, qualified dentists – not trained (same gender) members of their staff – must remain at all times with a patient who is still under the effects of oral conscious sedation (OCS).
The new regulation raises all order of potential bathroom embarrassments. If a dentist needs to use the bathroom once an adult patient has received sedation, the dentist by law must take the patient with him (or her).
This is no joke.
In fact, it has dentists in Minnesota facing a real quandary of how to manage patients during what are often multi-hour treatments using oral conscious sedation. Prior to the new regulations, male dentists routinely sent a trained female staff member to accompany female patients to the bathroom or felt safe leaving a trained staff member with the patient while they made their own restroom stop.
This is no longer permitted in Minnesota.
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