Circulation 60,475 • Volume 15, No. 4 • Winter 2000

Is the U.S. Behind the U.K. (Again) on Office-Based Anesthesia?

John S M Zorab, FRCA

To the Editor

It was not until 1999 that the UK government took the decision to ban general anaesthesia in the dental surgery. It seems ironic that it took UK 40 years to reach the point of accepting that general anaesthesia is safest when given in a fully equipped and fully staffed facility when there appears to be increasing interest in “office-based” surgery and anaesthesia in the USA. Boulton has given a fascinating account of the story of anaesthesia in the dental surgery.1

Dr. John S M Zorab, FRCA
Consultant Anaesthetist (retired)
Bristol, UK

Reference

1. Boulton, TB, The Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland 1932-1992 and the Development of the Specialty of Anaesthesia. (Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland) 1999.