Cardiac dysrhythmias with general anesthesia during dental surgery

Dysrhythmias with general anesthesia during dental surgery have been frequently reported. The incidence appears higher in spontaneously breathing patients lightly anesthetized with halothane. Anxiety, sitting posture, hypoxia, Chinese race, and heart disease appear to aggravate the condition. Use of beta blockers or lidocaine prior to anesthesia, intravenous induction, controlled ventilation with muscle relaxants, and use of isoflurane or enflurane in spontaneously breathing patients appear to decrease the incidence. It is stressed that continuous cardiac monitoring should be done in patients undergoing dental surgery under anesthesia in order to detect diagnose and treat any dysrhythmia. The great majority of dysrhythmias disappear either spontaneously or when the stimulus is stopped. In some cases there may be an obvious cause that should be immediately corrected. The need for drug intervention is rare and must be used with great care when used.