A clinician’s training and competency may matter more to pediatric anesthesia safety than whether a separate anesthesia provider is present during office-based procedures, according to a new analysis published in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.
The authors reviewed national insurance claims data, state dental board reviews and publicly reported pediatric anesthesia deaths recorded between 2002 and 2026. They found no evidence that requiring a separate anesthesia provider reduces adverse outcomes in pediatric dental or oral surgery procedures performed under deep sedation or general anesthesia, according to an Oct. 8 news release from the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.
The analysis argues that oral and maxillofacial surgeons’ four to six years of hospital-based postdoctoral training — which includes extensive anesthesia education alongside physician anesthesiologists — provides the competency necessary to safely deliver anesthesia without a dedicated second provider. The authors concluded that pediatric anesthesia policies should account for clinician training and competency, patient needs and procedure complexity.
