CARDIAC RHYTHM IN DENTAL ANAESTHESIA: A COMPARISON OF FIVE ANAESTHEIC TECHNIQUES

Abstract

A comparison was made of the frequency of occurrence of arrhythmias and of the quality of anaesthesia produced by five standard dental anaesthetic techniques, four inhalational and one intravenous. Arrhythmias occurred most frequently with halothane and trichloroethylene, significantly less frequently with divinyl ether and methoxyflurane, and did not occur with methohexitone. Apart from the high frequency of arrhythmias halothane was the only agent to provide, consistently, anaesthesia of acceptable quality.