Did We Lose Something Along the Way?

The 2022 American Dental Society of Anesthesiology Annual Session focused heavily on safety and the inherent challenges of providing sedation and anesthesia for office-based dentistry. A multitude of factors can contribute to a provider's ability to render patient care safely, particularly when perioperative issues arise unexpectedly. However, their influence does not negate the core responsibilities of any anesthesia provider: 1) to identify the depth of sedation; 2) to rescue patients who become sedated to a level deeper than intended; and 3) to manage sequela that arise due to depth of sedation, intended or otherwise. Review of the available data, despite the relative paucity, reveals airway issues consistently account for most anesthesia-related poor patient outcomes outside of the operating room (OR) setting in medicine and dentistry. Although continuation of this historical trend likely comes as no surprise, it is somewhat shocking that little improvement has been seen over the years despite...