(

a) The Legislature finds and declares that a commendable patient safety record has been maintained in the past by dentists and those other qualified providers of anesthesia services who, pursuant to a dentist’s authorization, administer patient sedation, and that the increasing number of pharmaceuticals and techniques used to administer them for patient sedation require additional regulation to maintain patient safety in the future. (

b) The Legislature further finds and declares all of the following:

(1) That previous laws enacted in contained separate and distinct

definitions for general anesthesia and the state of consciousness.

(2) That in dental practice, there is a continuum of sedation used which cannot be adequately defined in terms of consciousness and general anesthesia.

(3) That the administration of sedation through this continuum results in different states of consciousness that may or may not be predictable in every instance.

(4) That in most instances, the level of sedation will result in a predictable level of consciousness during the entire time of sedation. (

c) The Legislature further finds and declares that the educational standards presently required for deep sedation and general anesthesia should be required when the degree of sedation in the continuum of sedation is such that there is a reasonable possibility that loss of consciousness may result, even if unintended. However, achieving the degree of moderate sedation, where a margin of safety exists wide enough to render unintended loss of consciousness unlikely, requires educational standards appropriate to the administration of the resulting predictable level of consciousness.