Anesthesia is used for so many other surgeries, why not at the dentist? Friend of mine just had oral surgery for a broken tooth and obviously got novocaine, but he asked if he could be unconscious and they said they didn’t provide that service at their clinic. While drilling or grinding they hit a nerve, which was incredibly painful. Seems like if he flinched at the wrong moment it could make something go horribly wrong.
I understand there is liability in using anesthesia and they don’t use it on every single other type of surgery, but wouldn’t there also be liability if the patient flinches and you drill into the wrong part of their mouth? Even just nitrous seems like it would make the surgery so much easier, safer, and less traumatic for the patient.
Edit: thanks for the responses, I guess I was conflating anesthesia with sedation. My question should have been “why is sedation not required for oral surgery?” Regardless, I learned a lot!
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The most an oral surgeon is ever going to use is twilight sedation (like they would use for a colonoscopy for example) because you need to need to be able to follow simple commands (like to turn your head, etc).
Twilight sedation is typically a combo of Versed (a benzo, think IV grade really strong Xanax) and a second med (typically Fentanyl or something similar). The point is to knock you down enough that you can’t remember what is happening but not enough that your body forgets to breathe.
General would not be used because you 1) need a trained anesthesiologist; 2) you have to maintain an airway, which will get in the way of what they are doing; 3) needs a proper OR/additional equipment in case of emergency. But even with twilight sedation, you need a trained professional to administer the meds.
Then you have to figure in the insurance and cost. Many insurance plans don’t cover twilight sedation without major exceptions. When I had my wisdom teeth out, I had sedation only because all 4 of my teeth were impacted and they had to dig them out….and it still cost me a pretty penny. 😑
(Source for info on twilight sedation: Crohn’s patient with 30+ surgeries under my belt. I’ve seen it all at this point, from nerve blocks, general, on down. 😄)
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