Inhalation Sedation: A Dental Therapist's training experience

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My name is Kathryn Carey and I qualified as a Dental Therapist/Hygienist in March 2012. Whilst training I had come across the concept of Inhalation sedation and found the idea of providing IHS to allow treatment to be carried out on patients who otherwise would possibly be untreatable, very intriguing.

When I heard about the course that Richard Charon and wife Chris provided,

I was over the moon that my boss Michael Cahill selected me to attend with him.

We went to the course on a Saturday in Manchester (Feb. 2014) and can say we both thoroughly enjoyed it. Not only was it very informative and educational but it was so much fun. We all got a chance to try the HIS, which I must say was an awesome sensation 😉.

Feb 2014: Adec Showroom, Salford: Kathryn Carey: Front Row, far right

Later in the year Richard and Chris came to our practice in Bolton to carry out our mentoring on 10 patients. We accumulated a vast amount of knowledge from 2 very experienced individuals in this area and all the time had so much fun as well. My own daughter had IHS for her fissure sealants to be carried out and loved it, to quote she felt like "Aladdin on his magic carpet ", and constantly asks if she will ever require the "happy air" again. 

                                  Presenting certificates of competence in Inhalation Sedation

L to R : Chris. Charon RDN, Kat. Carey, Michael Cahill, Richard Charon

Since being qualified to carry out IHS on patients I have used it over and over again for different types of patients and different types of treatments. It has allowed me to provide treatment on patients with severe gag reflexes who otherwise could not even tolerate a mirror and probe, to patients who were so nervous a simple scale and polish was just to much. On all my patients I have always been able to provide the treatment required under IHS with great success. The patients have also returned on numerous occasions for further treatment and have always wanted the happy air.

I would like to say to any Therapists/Hygienists thinking of carrying out IHS, definitely do it, you won't look back!  It makes treatment easy on patients who would either be very difficult to treat or even unable to provide care for.

Not only will you be provided with a life long skill, you will be able to provide inaccessible treatment to patients who otherwise may be unable to let you treat them, and also you will be as fortunate as Michael and I in making lifelong friends with Richard and Chris.

Kat.