Anesthesia and Dentistry: Improving Patient Safety Through Education

Since Horace Wells’ early use of nitrous oxide analgesia in the 1840s, the dental profession has been at the forefront of the delivery of anesthesia for the relief of anxiety and pain control for patients undergoing dental treatment. Today, effective training of anesthesia and pain control for dental patients have been carefully codified by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association.¹  Under the auspices of numerous dental schools, undergraduate and continuing education programs are administered for basic airway management and enteral sedation as well as parenteral mild to moderate sedation. Nitrous oxide analgesia courses are popular in both the undergraduate and postgraduate setting. Deep sedation and general anesthesia techniques are part of the comprehensive training programs for oral and maxillofacial surgeons and dentists who desire the concentration of their practice on anesthesia and pain control. Frequently, these dental practitioners will sedate or anesthetize patients in...