Not Your Grandmother's Dentistry

Dentists invented anesthesia. Yes, that's right: DENTISTS invented ANESTHESIA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Wells, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_T._G._Morton, & http://www.boatus.com/magazine/2011/october/conspiracy.asp)

With the invention of local anesthesia almost 40 years away, dentistry blazed the trail when it comes to pain and anxiety management. Since then all healthcare providers have come a long way, but one thing is for sure sedation and anesthesia in dentistry are alive and well.

In 2007 (updated and revised several times since then) the American Dental Association published several official documents as guidelines and advocacy statements for the use of sedation and anesthesia in dentistry. It came as no surprise that "sedation and general anesthesia [are] an integral part[s] of dental practice."

The question, then, is if sedation and anesthesia are integral to the practice of dentistry in our modern times, are dentists up to par? Are they/we providing patients with the full range of pain/anxiety management care?

Stay tuned. This and future blog posts will focus on this very topic, outlining what kinds of care are available, which are safe, which kinds of providers are available and where to find it all.