General anaesthesia (GA) has long been part of dentistry: a dentist gave the first general anaesthetic in Britain in 1846 at 14 Gower Street London (Ellis, 1963).
In the 20th century, GA was used in dental practices mainly for extractions in children, but also to treat adults, given by both dentists and doctors. The number of anaesthetics reached a peak in the 1960s, but gradually other forms of dealing with pain and anxiety came along, such as sedation and better local anaesthesia. In the 1990s, there were a number of deaths under general anaesthesia, which led to adverse publicity—particularly as children were involved.
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