Anesthesia and dentistry are very well connected. Nitrous oxide aka "laughing gas" was first discovered and utilized by a dentist. The word is known in all languages yet is very unknown as to what exactly anesthesia is. What I provide for patients is on a spectrum of anesthesia. This idea of "spectrum" is important to understand because it is how an anesthesiologist looks at providing anesthesia. On the far left of the spectrum is "local anesthetic." This is what most would refer to as "a shot of novocaine." Novocaine is no longer in use, but the term persists for describing an intra-oral injection of local anesthetic, which typically numbs or deadens the surrounding tissue to sensation for 1-4 hours. This form of anesthesia is considered the least invasive and possibly safest form of anesthesia. At the far right of the spectrum is "general anesthesia." This is a fancy way of saying that a patient is in a medicine induced sleep or unconsciousness. This does NOT mean the patient is not breathing or their heart is not beating. It only means that the patient is not conscious and thus not aware of the surgery taking place. This is often convenient for children and surgeries that may be very long in duration. Now in the middle and along the rest of the spectrum lie such things as "oral conscious sedation" where a medicine is ingested and it causes some relief of anxiety, but not much else. Also on the spectrum is "moderate sedation" which is sometimes used for quick surgeries such as wisdom teeth extraction, where the patient doesn't want to remember anything, but isn't fully unconscious, just sedated to the point of not having a recollection of events. Young adults and older adults do well with light to moderate sedation. However, children do best with either local anesthetic, nitrous oxide sedation, or general anesthesia. Each form of sedation above the level of local anesthetic needs to have monitoring for heart rate and oxygen levels and likely blood pressure and breathing parameters as well. Anesthesia can be provided safely in a vast array of settings as long as the provider has been trained to work outside of an operating room. My training as a dentist anesthesiologist has given me unique opportunity to work exclusively in private dental office settings. I provide all equipment, monitoring and medicines necessary for a patient to have complete, safe anesthesia in a variety of offices and locations.
