General anaesthesia is to be banned in general dental practice from 2002. A Department of Health report has concluded that, after December 31, 2001, general anaesthesia for dental treatment should only take place in hospitals. It also recommends that the use of general anaesthesia to reduce pain and anxiety associated with dental treatment should be discouraged.
The British Dental Association welcomed the ban but added that the report had said little about alternative treatments for nervous patients and cautioned that such patients might have difficulty in accessing dental treatment.