Pediatric Dental Anesthesia Safety & Statistics

As a parent, it’s completely natural to feel a knot of anxiety in your stomach when you hear your child might need anesthesia for a dental procedure. You want what’s best for them, and the thought of them being “put to sleep” can bring up a lot of worries. Will they be safe? What are the risks? It’s a big decision, and understanding the true risks, rather than just the assurances, is crucial to advocating for your child.

When a dental anesthesia procedure goes wrong, the consequences can be devastating, impacting your child and your family deeply. At Vaage Law, we understand these concerns profoundly. With over 35 years of experience, our team regularly handles complex injury cases, including those involving pediatric dental anesthesia. 

If you have concerns about your child’s dental anesthesia experience or if something went wrong, contact us today for personalized attention and trusted guidance online or by calling (619) 338-0505. 

The Growing Trend of Dental Anesthesia in Kids

In the United States, pediatric dental sedations are on the rise, often to treat extensive decay, multiple cavities, and manage behavioral challenges. Sedation during pediatric dental procedures ranges from a shot of Novocain to nitrous oxide to oral conscious sedation (light anesthesia) to general anesthesia. A growing trend of using general anesthesia for pediatric dental procedures is cause for concern.

Despite the availability of other options, general anesthesia is still being used in young children for dental procedures, even as concerns in the medical community become more urgent. For example, a comprehensive review of 72 clinical studies published between 2000 and 2022 highlights these safety concerns and calls for more careful, individualized decisions in pediatric dental care.

This comprehensive review revealed that two-thirds of these case studies (48 out of 72) presented evidence of negative neurocognitive effects, such as long-term issues with learning and thinking skills, following general anesthesia exposure in children.

Is Pediatric Dental Anesthesia Safe?

The lack of a national system for tracking office-based anesthesia results makes it difficult to get a complete picture of pediatric dental anesthesia adverse events. However, increasing scrutiny of pediatric dental anesthesia has revealed troubling risks associated with exposing children to anesthesia during dental procedures.

Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry Study

A recent, comprehensive study pulled data from the SCOR registry, looking at over 7,000 cases of pediatric dental anesthesia administered by dentist anesthesiologists in dental offices between 2010 and 2014. 

While the study reported that no cases in this particular dataset resulted in serious complications, it’s crucial to understand that even less severe “adverse events” can be incredibly frightening and impactful for a child and their family.

A small but significant percentage, about 3%, experienced some form of adverse event, meaning something unexpected happened either before the child went home or shortly after:

• One issue reported before discharge was laryngospasm, a dangerous tightening of the vocal cords that can block the airway, which occurred in 0.50% of cases.
• After discharge, the most common issue reported by parents was nausea, affecting about 5% of patients who were followed up.

Study Published in Journal of Pioneering Medical Sciences

A review analyzed 20 studies, including randomized trials and observational studies, published between 2015 and 2024. It focused on children under 18 undergoing dental procedures with either general anesthesia or pediatric dental sedation.

Here’s what they found:

• Adverse events ranged from 8% to as high as 47.5%, depending on the type of drug and how it was given.
• Postoperative pain affected up to 90% of children after general anesthesia.
• Agitation, such as restlessness or emotional outbursts, was reported in nearly half (47.5%) of children receiving sedation.
• Nausea and vomiting occurred in nearly 1 out of 5 kids (19.6%).
• Laryngospasm occurred in up to 36.8% of sedation cases.
• Oxygen desaturation, a drop in blood oxygen levels, occurred in 1.8% to 13.7% of cases. This is dangerous because it can quickly lead to hypoxia, which affects the brain and vital organs if not treated immediately.

Even more concerning, many of these events went undetected until advanced monitoring tools, like pretracheal/precordial stethoscopes or capnography, identified them.

Journal of the American Dental Association Study

This study, published in September 2023, focused specifically on deep sedation in outpatient dental settings for children.

The findings are concerning:

• Adverse events, including airway and breathing complications, occur in 1 in 12 instances of deep sedation (DS) performed in children at outpatient dental settings.
• Out of 175 deep sedation cases reviewed, 19 adverse events (AEs) were identified across 15 cases (9%).
• The most common problems were related to sedation quality (47% of AEs), including one instance where a dizzy patient fell and cut their head.
• Airway and breathing problems accounted for a significant portion of AEs (37%).
• The remaining three events were classified as allergies.

These findings are particularly relevant because children are already at a higher risk for deep sedation and general anesthesia-related respiratory problems due to differences in their anatomy and physiology compared to adults. 

As more dentists perform deep sedation on pediatric patients in outpatient settings rather than hospitals, the need for larger studies and in-depth investigations into the root causes of these adverse events becomes even more critical. 

Dr. Bunmi Tokede, lead author of the study, emphasized that this work “helps generate evidence to drive targeted efforts to improve the safety and reliability of pediatric outpatient sedation.”

Anesthesia should never cost a child their safety. But the risk often begins before the procedure, with the decision to use general anesthesia at all. This raises serious questions about whether the risks of anesthesia are being fully weighed, or whether convenience, time pressures, or systemic gaps are pushing children toward unnecessary exposure to drugs and procedures that carry real, long-term consequences.

If your child was hurt after dental sedation, you deserve answers. Call Vaage Law at (619) 338-0505 or contact us online for a free, private case review. We’ll help you understand what happened and what comes next.

Risk Factors That Highlight the Dangers Of Pediatric Dental Anesthesia

Some factors that can slightly increase the likelihood of an unexpected event include:

• Pre-existing medical conditions: A history of nausea and vomiting after anesthesia, underlying lung conditions, or documented obstructive sleep apnea can elevate the risk.
• Age: Very young children, especially those aged 6 and under, may have a higher rate of adverse events like laryngospasm.
• Developmental disabilities: Children with developmental delays are three times more likely to experience dangerous oxygen drops.
• Anatomy: Features like enlarged tonsils can block airways more easily during sedation.

A qualified dentist anesthesiologist should thoroughly assess whether general anesthesia is truly necessary or if safer alternatives are available. When that level of care is missing, and anesthesia is recommended without fully considering the risks, children can face serious and preventable harm. 

If something didn’t feel right during your child’s dental procedure and you’re left with questions, you’re not alone.

Pediatric Dental Anesthesia Deaths

Here are some facts about pediatric dental anesthesia deaths:

• A 2013 University of Washington study identified 44 pediatric deaths linked to dental sedation or general anesthesia over a 30-year period. Most involved children between 2 and 5 years old.
• In 2016, 14-month-old Daisy Lynn Torres died under general anesthesia during a procedure to fix two cavities that later raised questions about whether it was even needed.
• In 2023, Daleyza Hernandez-Avila, age 3, died after undergoing anesthesia for dental surgery. She never woke up from the procedure.

And unlike hospitals, dental offices often lack the immediate support or emergency personnel needed to respond quickly. As one pediatric anesthesiologist put it, “In a hospital, you press a button and a whole team rushes in. In a dental office, you call 911 and start CPR while waiting for help.”

Vaage Law Advocates for Pediatric Dental Anesthesia Safety

The true number of children harmed may be higher than any study or registry can currently show. What these numbers do make clear is this: When things go wrong, they go tragically wrong.

At Vaage Law, we’ve seen firsthand the heartbreak that comes when a child suffers a preventable injury, or worse, because safety protocols were skipped, warning signs were missed, or unqualified providers were allowed to make risky choices without oversight. In one such case, our team secured a jury verdict of more than $3.5 million for a young child who suffered a brain injury from oversedation at Rose Dental Group.

As an experienced medical malpractice firm with more than $190 million recovered for clients, we provide the personalized attention your case and family deserve. If you have more questions about the dangers of pediatric dental anesthesia or want to discuss your next steps, call our team at (619) 338-0505 or fill out our quick online form.