You will need to nominate a supervisor to supervise your clinical experience. A suitable supervisor is someone who has a dental sedation qualification or is an experienced dental sedationist or registered dental nurse, and is providing, or assisting with the provision of dental sedation on a regular basis.

Potential SAAD supervisors must demonstrate their own relevant knowledge, skills and experience before supervising sedation new starters. Supervisors are expected to have completed a minimum of 50* cases of the technique being supervised, over the preceding two-year period or be able to evidence active involvement in sedation supervision or teaching.

*This number must not include any cases completed during the supervisor's own supervised clinical practice.

When you register for the SASN scheme you will then need to email a completed supervisor nomination form to schemes@saad.org.uk. The form requests the following information:

1. Name of proposed clinical supervisor(s)
2. GDC / GMC No. of proposed clinical supervisor(s)
3. Qualifications of proposed clinical supervisor(s)
4. Dental sedation experience of proposed clinical supervisor(s)
5. Dental sedation services offered by proposed clinical supervisor(s)
6. Address of the practice(s) where the clinical supervision will take place

It is possible to nominate more than one supervisor, and to complete your supervised experience at more than one location. You can use the Supervisor Nomination Form to submit the details.

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Throughout the SASN scheme you will have email support and guidance for SAAD's SASN scheme co-ordinator, Emma Lee.

You can complete your supervised experience for one, or both techniques.

For IVS

20 IV sedations where you have assisted with the provision of the sedation

For IS

10 inhalation sedations where you have assisted with the provision of the sedation

Once you have been accepted onto the SASN scheme you will receive a link to the documents that you will need to complete during your supervised clinical experience. These are

• Logbook for each technique
• DOPS form for each case
• Practice Checklist
• Document Submission checklist (to be completed by your supervisor)

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Your documents must be submitted for moderation is six weeks prior to your final assessments date. The date of your final assessments is 12 months after you attend the SAAD National Course, however it is possible to sit the final assessment at an earlier date once you complete your supervised clinical experience.

The final assessment takes place online, in the form of single best answer questions. You will be advised how and when this will take place once your documents have been approved.

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Once you pass the final assessment you will receive a certificate and a 'SAAD Assessed' badge to confirm that you have completed your sedation training in accordance with the IACSD Standards. This will mean that you can then assist with the provision of sedation independently.

Contact schemes@saad.org.uk 01302 578 835

‘Standards for Conscious Sedation in the Provision of Dental Care’ (2015, 2020)

Following publication of the IACSD standards in April 2015, dentists, doctors, dental hygienists/therapists and dental nurses who have no previous experience in conscious sedation for dentistry must now undertake appropriate training before commencing independent clinical practice.

All training programmes for ‘new starters’ must include supervised clinical experience and have external validation. UK university-based courses and those run by Postgraduate Deaneries are deemed to be compliant. Other courses leading to independent (i.e. unsupervised) practice, including those run by private providers, must be accredited by the Sedation Training and Accreditation Committee (STAC) of IACSD.

The IACSD Standards state that practitioners offering supervised clinical experience in conscious sedation must now be accredited by a university, deanery or IACSD (p34, 86).

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