Is Having Dental Treatment Under General Anaesthetic Really a Soothing Option?

Lincoln, United Kingdom, July 21, 2007 --(PR.com)-- One in four people in the UK feel anxious about going to the dentist, according to a survey by the British Dental Association.

The reasons they give vary from bad experiences in the chair as a child to the sound of the drill and the thought of an injection. Out of the many options available many patients choose to have general anaesthetic, thinking whilst they are asleep nothing bad can happen to them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/574172.stm

Truthfully, although the risks of serious complications from general anaesthesia are very low, they can include heart attack, stroke, brain damage, and death. http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/transform.jsp?requestURI=/
healthatoz/Atoz/ency/anesthesia_general.jsp.

Also, during general anaesthetic patients are not able to help to the dentist and can swallow or bit their tongue, making the whole procedure way too problematic.

“Once I’d been outgoing and fun-loving, but for over 12 years I had covered my mouth when I laughed, over the past two years I got so disgusted by the rotten taste on my tongue, but I was so scared going to the dentist. A friend recommended seeing Dr Szocs in Hungary, who is a dental partner of Hungarian Dental Travel and I used them to seek solution”- says Sarah, 36 from Surrey.

Outside the UK the use of general anaesthesia in dentistry is virtually unheard of. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/211587.stm

Dr Szocs, who practices in Hungary believes in alternative methods and would not recommend general anaesthetic, at all. “There are so many, much safer methods to treat patients, suffering from anxiety. I think gentle care and sense of humour in some cases can be more relaxing then “laughing gas”.

Since 1998, after the tragic death of Darren Denholm, 10, who went into a coma and died while having his tooth out under general anaesthetic -dentists are not allowed to perform general anaesthetics in their own surgeries unless they have a specialist anaesthetist present and have immediate access to emergency care facilities. Before the regulations, every year, 350,000 general anaesthetics are given in dental surgeries, mostly to children. On average there are three deaths a year.

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