Dental anesthesiology
Dental anesthesiology (or dental anaesthesiology) is the specialty of dentistry that deals with the management of pain through the use of advanced local and general anesthesia techniques.
A dentist anesthesiologist is a dentist who has successfully completed an accredited postdoctoral anesthesiology residency training program for dentists of two or more years duration, in accord with Commission on Dental Accreditation’s Standards for Dental Anesthesiology Residency Programs, and/or meets the eligibility requirements for examination by the American Dental Board of Anesthesiology. [1]
United States and Canada
The American Dental Board of Anesthesiology examines and certifies dentists who complete an accredited program of anesthesiology training in the United States or Canada. Dentists may then apply for Board Certification through the ADBA which requires ongoing and continual post-graduate education for maintenance.[2]
The American Society of Dentist Anesthesiologists is the only organization that represents dentists with two or more years of anesthesiology training.[3]
However, dental anesthesiology is not recognized as a specialty by the ADA (American Dental Association). A proposal to make dental anesthesiology an ADA-recognized specialty was denied by the House of Delegates Oct. 22, 2012 [4]