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 basic answer would be unnecessary risk. And or lack of equipment.
From my understanding, general anesthesia carry risks. Which are unnecessary risks if local anesthesia will suffice. Also under general anesthesia you can’t breath for yourself so they will need a ventilators to help you breath which not everyone has. Now I don’t know why they did the surgery like that when it involves drilling into the bone. It was probably just a bad dentistry.
When I had my implant I was knocked out fully so idk.
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