Dentists

The SAS scheme is STAC accredited and includes approval of your supervisor, verification of your portfolio in line with the IACSD syllabus. The portfolio consists of the Clinical Logbook, Direct Observation of Procedural Skills (DOPS) forms and the SAS Practice Checklist.

Successful practitioners will receive a SAAD certificate confirming ‘SAAD Assessed Sedationist’ status which will enable you to practise independently.

The registration deadline is four weeks after attending the SAAD National Course. There will be a presentation about the scheme on the course weekend.

If you are on a university or deanery run training scheme you can complete your supervised cases through your training scheme and do not have to register for the SAS scheme unless you particularly wish to do so

---

• Registration for the SAS scheme, nomination of your clinical supervisor.
• Acceptance on to the SAS scheme and approval of your clinical supervisor
• Attendance of the two day National Course
• Successful completion of the online written assessment after attending the SAAD National Course
• Completion of 20 IV and/or 10 IS cases under supervision. For half of these cases dentists will need to provide the dental treatment as well as the sedation.
• Optional attendance of four complimentary webinars
• Submission of your SAS portfolio (logbook(s), DOPs, Practice Evaluation Checklist(s) and Document Submission Checklist) to SAAD
• Moderation of submitted documents by the SAAD Training Board
• Satisfactory completion is confirmed and you become a SAAD Assessed Sedationist able to provide sedation independently in accordance with the IACSD Standards (2020)

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, and is providing dental sedation on a regular basis.

Potential SAAD supervisors must demonstrate their own relevant knowledge, skills and experience before supervising sedation new starters.

SAAD supervisors are required to be complaint with the IACSD standards. This includes:

• 12 hours of sedation related CPD (excluding life support training) over a 5-year period
• Keeping a logbook of sedation cases to demonstrate compliance 
• Hold certification for appropriate annual life support training (ILS or equivalent)

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 SAS 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.

 

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

For IVS

20 IV sedations where you have not only administered the sedation drug/s but also been responsible for the care of the patient from induction to discharge. Note that for at least 10 of those cases you must also have provided the dental treatment.

For IS

10 inhalational sedations where you have not only administered the sedation but also been responsible for the care of the the patient from induction to discharge. Note that for at least 5 of those cases you must also have provided the dental treatment.

Once your written assessment has been moderated 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)

Please note: SAAD provides knowledge and skills training in conscious sedation in compliance with current UK Standards (IACSD, 2020). We also offer the opportunity for course participants to gain supervised clinical experience through the SAS scheme. However, it is the responsibility of candidates from the Republic of Ireland (and other countries) to ensure that SAAD's training is acceptable to both the National and local authorities, where the candidate intends to practice. SAAD is unable to enter into negotiations of behalf of course participants or to identify appropriate supervisors. 

Your documents must be submitted to SAAD for moderation within 12 months of attending the SAAD National Course.

Once your documents have been moderated and approved you will receive a certificate to confirm that you have completed your sedation training in accordance with the IACSD Standards. This will mean that you can then provide sedation independently.

---

Attend a SAAD Course and be taught by the country’s most experienced dental sedation teachers!

The SAAD Teaching Faculty has oral surgeons, paediatric dentists, special care dentists, clinical psychologists, GDPs, dental nurses, peripatetic sedationists and resuscitation officers - all experienced teachers.

Click here to read more about our teachers.

 

Click here for information about the venue, course times and the sample programme for the in-person element of the course

Queen Mary University of London (QMUL)

Mile End Road Campus

Contact SAS@saad.org.uk 

‘Standards for Conscious Sedation in the Provision of Dental Care’ (April 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).

 

After attending one of the SAAD courses you will become a member of the SAAD Alumni.

Please see our Transfer, cancellation and refund policy