HISTORY

The Society for the Advancement of Anaesthesia in Dentistry was formed in 1957. A list of the Past Presidents of the Society are listed in the following table:

The important landmarks in the history of the Society and the development of anaesthesia in dentistry as a whole are outlined below. Please click a link to jump to the desired era or scroll down to view the full list.

1932-1949 | 1950-1969 | 1970-1989 | 1990-2009

1932
A dentist called Stanley Lithgow Drummond-Jackson experiments with new intravenous anaesthetic drugs developed in Germany and America. He developed a technique of anaesthesia induced by the intravenous route utilising empirical doses of drugs.

1946
Stanley Drummond-Jackson establishes a practice dedicated to dentistry under intravenous anaesthesia at 53 Wimpole Street, London.

1955
Stanley Drummond-Jackson begins a study club for intravenous anaesthesia in dentistry.

1957
Society for the Advancement of Anaesthesia in Dentistry was formed.

1958
Dr Victor Goldman, the consultant anaesthetist at the Eastman Dental Hospital, makes the first address to the Society on "Death in the Dental Surgery".

1958
Dr James Bourne, consultant anaesthetist at St Thomas ’ Hospital, London , alerts SAAD’s dental anaesthetists to the unrecognised faint in the patient treated in the upright dental chair.

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1959
First series of 3 day intensive courses on general anaesthesia in dentistry were initially limited to 8 members. Over subscription was a problem.

1960
Professor Nils Jorgenson, Loma Linda University, California, presents the Jorgenson technique of pentobarbitane sodium pethidine and scopolamine.

1960
Professor Nils Jorgenson details careful and safe techniques of local anaesthesia.

1960
First "Librarians News Sheet". A precursor to "SAAD Digest".

1960
First SAAD meeting in cardiac resuscitation based on an ICI film on the Emergency Treatment of Cardiac Arrest.

1962
Stanley Drummond-Jackson records 40,000 intravenous general anaesthetics.

1963
SAAD insists course participants use autoclaves or dry heat sterilisation.

1963
First open clinical meeting of the society.

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1963
First ‘Update’ course entitled "An Evaluation of SAAD Courses". SAAD accepts courses can only give "general guidance on the basic principles of safety".

1964
Membership increases at a rate of 200 new members per month.

1964
The first three day course at the University College , London , involving table demonstrations and clinical presentations. First "Jumbo Course". Three hundred members, four operating chairs and three days of clinical demonstrations and table demonstrations.

1965
SAAD institutes a training course for dental nurses.

1966
Dr David Main emphasises the need for titration with the recently introduced drug Diazepam.

1967
SAAD membership approximately 2000.

1967
All SAAD course participants required to have experience in handling emergencies and to be competent in inflation of the patient and external cardiac message.

1967
"Intravenous Analgesia and Anaesthesia" – first SAAD course handbook edited by Stanley Drummond-Jackson.

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1967
Dr Darryl Beach from Tokyo encourages the supine position for dentistry. By 1967 Dr Gerry Holden develops ‘Synchromat’ dental chair allowing the patient to be treated in the conventional upright position but which also reclined to the supine position for anaesthesia. Specialised armrests for intravenous access.

1967
The operator anaesthetist debate starts.

1968
Dr Sylvan Shane, Baltimore, promulgates "intravenous amnesia" and "the therapeutic lie".

1972
Stanley Drummond-Jackson undertakes personal liable action against authors of a paper in the British Medical Journal in 1969 leading to one of the longest liable cases in English legal history.

1973
"Intravenous Anaesthesia" – 5th edition published.

1979
SAAD hosts the Second International Dental Congress on Modern Pain Control in London England.

1980
SAAD courses move between the Eastman Dental Hospital, The Whittington Hospital and the Royal Free Hospital at Hampstead.

1982
SAAD 25th anniversary.

1984
Dr Peter Hunt accommodates the SAAD course in his ten surgery state-of-the-art practice. Course sizes were smaller. Participants enjoyed increasing intimacy with numerous techniques demonstrated.

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1984
SAAD ceases to teach general anaesthesia.

1985
SAAD ‘Update’ launched to provide continuing professional development for experienced dentists.

1987
SAAD courses moved to St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London.

1987
Separate anaesthetic nursing course started by Dr Ian Brett.

1988
‘Lifesaver’ – a one day course in Basic CPR begins a series of nationwide seminars.

1990
Lifesaver 2 – an Advanced Life Support programme. This was led by Dr Peter Basker, President of the Association of Anaesthetists.

1990
SAAD publishes "Guidelines for Physiological Monitoring a Patient during Dental Anaesthesia or Sedation".

1990
SAAD exports ‘Liversaver 1 and 2’ to Australasia.

1995
SAAD’s evaluation scheme, a clinical audit by peer review, is used by the Clinical Standards Advisory Group during production of the document "Dental General Anaesthesia" adopted by the government.

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1996
Fiftieth SAAD tutorial course.

1997
40th anniversary programme concentrates on new sedative drugs, undergraduate teaching and the role of dental nurses.

1997
SAAD courses re-launched as National Course in Conscious Sedation for Dentistry and Dental Nurses National Course in Conscious sedation for Dentistry – both audited continuing professional development courses.

1999
‘First Response’ developed – a course of management of medical emergencies through simulation, led by Dr Diana Terry, UK Resuscitation Council.

2000
Department of Health publishes a report "A Conscious Decision". SAAD is charged by the government to investigate morbidity and mortality associated with conscious sedation for dentistry.

2000
Dr Christopher Holden, SAAD’s president, chairs an Independent Expert Working Group publishing the first Standards in Conscious Sedation for Dentistry.

2001
SAAD contributes to the Standing Committee on Dental Sedation (SDCS): Chaired by the Faculty of Dental Surgery of The Royal College of Surgeons of England this group was created to encourage the expansion of sedation training courses for postgraduates ; to accredit training courses; and to accredit teachers for those training courses.

2002
A fundamental review of the society's trust deed is started with the aim of  modernising SAAD's structures to ensure compatibility with the requirements of a charity in the 21st century.

2003
SAAD hosts the 10th International Dental Congress on Modern Pain Control in Edinburgh Scotland . This is the second time the UK has attracted this conference twenty four years after hosting the 2nd International Congress in London . At that time the president of SAAD was Dr Gerald Holden. Ironically the incoming president of IFDAS on this occasion is his son Dr Christopher Holden.

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