Anesthesia for outpatient dental procedures

While a significant amount of dental procedures can be done in a dentist's office with local anesthetic, there are circumstances when the patient's medical comorbidities require additional monitoring and deeper levels of sedation than can be provided in an outpatient office. These may range in spectrum from mild anxiolysis performed by a dentist, to general anesthesia performed by an anesthesiologist. The content below offers an overview of human dental anatomy, dental notation, levels of sedation, common anxiolytics and anesthetic practices, adverse events, and guidelines for the management of dental anesthesia.