Awareness about inhalation general anaesthetics among dental students

Abstract

Introduction: General anesthesia is a state of medically induced coma or unconsciousness. General anaesthetics are drugs that render a patient unresponsive and unconscious, so that the patient is unaware of surgery and does not move or feel pain while it's being carried out. The anaesthetic agent is administered through an intravenous line or the anaesthetic agent may be inhaled through a breathing mask or tube. Inhalation anesthetics are also known to be found in two forms, gaseous anesthetics and the volatile anaesthetics. The volatile anesthetics are liquids at room temperature and need vapourizers to make it suitable for the inhalation purposes. Aim:The present study aimed to assess the knowledge and awareness on inhalation anaesthesia among dental students. Materials and Methods: The present study is an online based survey conducted among the dental students.The participants were from 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th years of BDS. Questionnaires were prepared and distributed among dental students through an online link from the survey planet. Results and Discussion: About 62% of the students were well aware of inhalation general anaesthesia. 55% of the students were aware of nitrous oxide as inhalation general anesthetics. From the results of the survey it is clear that most of the dental students were well aware of inhalation general anaesthesia and also had proper knowledge about its complications.