Episode #285 Safer Smiles

Hello and welcome back to the Anesthesia Patient Safety Podcast. My name is Alli Bechtel, and I am your host. Thank you for joining us for another show. We have a very exciting interview show today on a topic that we haven’t covered on the podcast before. Let’s break out the toothpaste and floss because our guest today is passionate about keeping patients safe during dental office-based anesthesia care.

Before we dive further into the episode today, we’d like to recognize Fresenius Kabi, a major corporate supporter of APSF. Fresenius Kabi has generously provided unrestricted support to further our vision that “no one shall be harmed by anesthesia care”. Thank you, Fresenius Kabi – we wouldn’t be able to do all that we do without you!”

Our guest today is Dr. Rita Agarwal, a pediatric anesthesiologist at Stanford and Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital. Dr. Agarwal was the Pediatric Anesthesia Program Director at the University of Colorado for 18 years and has served as the Editor for the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia Newsletter, Communication Chair, and Member of the Board of Directors. She is the  past Chair for the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Anesthesiology and Pain Management and the Vice President for the Society of Pediatric Pain Management. Dr. Agarwal is passionate about patient safety during dental procedures and an expert in this area. We are so excited to have her on the show today.

And now, my conversation with Dr. Rita Agarwal…

[Interview Show]

1. Can you introduce yourself? Tell us about your anaesthesia training, career, and current role? How did you become interested in Pediatric Anaesthesia as a focus for your practice?
2. Since this is the Anesthesia Patient Safety podcast, we like to start the conversation off about patient safety. What got you interested in patient safety in your practice? (personal story or de-identified patient story?)
3. We are going to focus on patient safety during dental procedures today. Can we get started by talking about the history of dental anesthesia? How did you first become aware of the threats to patient safety during dental procedures?
4. What are the different options for anesthesia for dental procedures?
5. One of the APSF Patient Safety Priorities is Clinical Deterioration with a focus on preventing, detecting, and determining pathogenesis, and mitigating clinical deterioration in the perioperative period. This is vital when it comes to keeping patients safe during dental procedures. What do you see as the most important considerations when it comes to preventing clinical deterioration during dental procedures?
6. What can patients or parents and family members do when one of their loved ones requires a dental procedure to help keep them safe during the procedure? What questions do they need to ask? Are there certain credentials to be on the lookout for? What are the warning signs?
7. What is the responsibility for anesthesia professionals when it comes to keeping patients safe during dental procedures? What resources are available to help guide safe practice? Is there research being done in this area?
8. What do you hope to see going forward when it comes to safe dental anesthesia? What will it take to make sure that no one is harmed by anesthesia for dental procedures in the future?
9. What’s next for your research or projects?
10. Is there anything else that you want to share that we have not talked about already?

[Bechtel] Thank you so much to Dr. Agarwal for joining us on  the show today and for your work on adult and pediatric patient safety during dental procedures. We are looking forward to a future where no patients are harmed during sedation for dental procedures and we can continue to advocate for patient safety and collaborate to help improve and maintain patient safety going forward.

If you have any questions or comments from today’s show, please email us at [email protected]. Please keep in mind that the information in this show is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical or legal advice. We hope that you will visit APSF.org for detailed information and check out the show notes for links to all the topics we discussed today.

Before you go, we hope that you will take a moment to like, review, and share the Anesthesia Patient Safety Podcast with just one colleague, trainee, or team member. Our listeners are increasing every year, and we are already looking forward to bringing you the best in perioperative and anesthesia patient safety in 2026 and beyond.

Until next time, stay vigilant so that no one shall be harmed by anesthesia care.