Dental sedation reduces fear and phobia during dental treatment and helps patients get quality treatment by inducing adequate consciousness control. Propofol has recently grabbed the spotlight, but no meta-analysis for efficacy and safety of propofol in dentistry has yet been performed. Thus, the purpose of this study was to perform meta-analysis to verify the efficacy and safety of propofol for use in dental sedation.

Articles published between 1980 and 2010 were searched in the web sites, journals and medical database including The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE and EMBASE. And a total of 22 studies were selected among the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared the use of propofol with other sedatives (control group). The data was collected from these studies and meta-analysis for efficacy and safety was performed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis 5.0 (CMA 5.0).

The patient recovered significantly faster and discharged significantly earlier in the propofol group (SMD = -1.442, P < 0.001). The satisfaction of patient and that of operator was higher in the propofol group (P < 0.05). The incidence of arrhythmia and apnea/ hypoventilation was significantly lower in the propofol group (OR = 0.071, P < 0.05), and there was no significant difference in the other side effects. On the level of sedation, although the sedation score was significantly lower in the propofol group (SMD = -0.430, P < 0.05).

The present analysis showed that the use of propofol resulted in high satisfaction levels on the part of the patients and operators, a shorter recovery time, and faster hospital discharge. The incidence of complications, however, was lower in the propofol groups or not much different between the propofol and control groups. Thus, the adequate use of propofol in dentistry is believed to be helpful for the effective and safe sedation of the patients.