Section 1647.18.

As used in this article, the following terms have the following meanings:

(a) "Adult patient" means a dental patient 13 years of age or older.

(b) "Certification" means the issuance of a certificate to a dentist licensed by the board who provides the board with his or her name and the location at which the administration of oral conscious sedation will occur, and fulfills the requirements specified in Sections 1647.12 and 1647.13.

(c) "Oral conscious sedation" means a minimally depressed level of consciousness produced by oral medication that retains the patient's ability to maintain independently and continuously an airway, and respond appropriately to physical stimulation or verbal command. "Oral conscious sedation" does not include dosages less than or equal to the single maximum recommended dose that can be prescribed for home use.

(1) The drugs and techniques used in oral conscious sedation shall have a margin of safety wide enough to render unintended loss of consciousness unlikely. Further, patients whose only response is reflex withdrawal from painful stimuli would not be considered to be in a state of oral conscious sedation.

(2) For the handicapped individual, incapable of the usually expected verbal response, a minimally depressed level of consciousness for that individual should be maintained.

(Added by Stats. 2005, Ch. 539, Sec. 12. Effective January 1, 2006.)