Efficacy and acceptabilty of oral-transmucosal midazolam as a conscious sedation agent in pre-school children.

The purpose of the present study was to test the efficacy of oral-transmucosal route of administration of midazolam in young potentially un-cooperative children. A sample of 40 children up to 4 years of age with ASA I status were randomly divided into experimental and control groups of 20 each. The children in experimental group received 0.5-mg/kg-body weight midazolam mixed in strawberry syrup via the oral-transmucosal route and those in control group were given the same syrup diluted with normal saline. A class II amalgam restoration was performed and routine behavior management techniques were employed in both groups. It was found that the number of procedures successfully completed and sedation produced 15 minutes after test solution administration was significantly greater in the experimental group compared to the control group. The total treatment time was also much lesser in the experimental group children. There was no significant difference in the acceptability of the test solutions in the children of the two groups.