“How is dental anesthesia different?”
I will be under anesthesia for a root canal soon. How is dental anesthesia different? Or is it the same as general anesthesia.
6 Answers
Local anesthesia is very different from general anesthesia. General anesthesia will render you unconscious and you will have IV medication in your system, monitors hooked up to monitor all your vitals, and nitrous/oxygen administered. Local anesthesia is an injection into a localized area that numbs a specific part. You are conscious. You can breath on your own. You have all your faculties intact except the localized numb part. Numbing lasts for 30 min-3 hours depends on dosage, anesthesia type, and personal variation.
General anesthesia is a coma; you don't see, you don't feel, you don't breathe. Local anesthesia is only in the area of surgery.
Hello! That's a perfect question to ask. Dental anesthesia is very different from general. We call it I.V. sedation or twilight sedation because you are still able to breath completely on your own. Meaning, you are not intubated and your respiratory rate should remain stable throughout the procedure. You are still given local anesthesia to block the nerves that innervate the specific tooth being worked on but you will have no memory of the procedure.
Hope all goes well. Dr. Reid
Hope all goes well. Dr. Reid
I assume that when you say dental anesthesia , you mean local Adam anesthesia. There is a difference between local and general anesthesia. Local anesthetic is site specific , anesthetizes the area that you are having the dental procedure only, you are fully cognizant of what is going on. General anesthesia you are “put to sleep” during your dental procedure.
Local anesthesia is what is used for root canal treatment. General anesthesia involves sedation where you are asleep or lightly asleep. Local anesthesia is adequate anesthesia for root canal therapy.
Most dental anesthesia is a local injection. Some procedures may require General anesthesia
