I try to speak on patient safety at dental conferences whenever possible. I had the privilege of speaking at two recent conferences that were especially inspiring and educational. First, this past September, I lectured at Harvard’s Pediatric Sedation Outside the OR Symposium in San Francisco. My lecture was well received, and I enjoyed hearing the other speakers at the conference. In particular, I appreciated the insights of Dr. James Tom, DDS (Professor of Dental Anesthesiol

Hi, my name is Dr. Steve Yun, M.D., and I am a board-certified dental anesthesiologist in Southern California. (Above diagram taken from www.medlineplus.gov). The ALCAPA Syndrome is a rare congenital heart defect that affects 1 of every 300,000 live births. ALCAPA stands for Anomalous Left Coronary Artery from the Pulmonary Artery. The left coronary artery is the main artery that supplies oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscle. Normally, the left coronary artery arises from th

Hi, my name is Dr. Steve Yun, and I am a board-certified dental anesthesiologist in Southern California. I am often called in to the dental office to help patients with special needs. So when it comes to dogs, it made sense to help dogs with special needs too. Thus, I am proud to announce that my family and I have committed to helping the Southern California Bulldog Rescue Organization. Bulldogs have that special way of making anyone smile just by looking at them. They are w

Hi, my name is Dr. Steve Yun, M.D., and I am a board-certified dental anesthesiologist. The first and most important question I am often asked is this: "Is dental anesthesia safe for my child?" I totally understand the anxiety behind this question. As the father of two children who had dental anesthesia, I empathize with parents' concerns. However, I can assure you that dental anesthesia, when performed PROPERLY by the PROPER PERSONNEL, is EXTREMELY safe. Indeed, as parents w

Hi, I am Dr. Steve Yun and I am a board-certified dental anesthesiologist in Southern California. February and March are especially busy for me as I have a number of medical conferences that I attend. The first was the Annual Patient Safety Movement Summit in February. The featured speaker was President Bill Clinton, who spoke about our push to have ZERO preventable deaths by 2020. I am pleased to announce that I was also selected as the California Regional Chair for the Pati

First, Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful and restful holiday season. Unfortunately, the Food and Drug Administration started off my holiday season with a lump of coal last month when they announced it was requiring new warnings on the use of repeated or lengthy general anesthesia in children under age 3 because of their possible effectson the developing brain. While I share the FDA's concern, this action is an example of a government bureaucracy taking action in

My name is Dr. Steve Yun, and I am a board-certified dental anesthesiologist in Southern California. Taking care of autistic patients can be hard. Really hard. But it is also tremendously rewarding, and as a recent family demonstrated to me, a privilege to care for these patients. “Robert” is a 19 year old with severe autism. He also has a seizure disorder, diabetes, and obesity. He is built like a tank, with a large, thick neck. But he is a gentle giant, and very scared of a

I am a board-certified Dental Anesthesiologist in Southern California. This past weekend I had the privilege and joy of volunteering at Rady's Children Hospital in San Diego for Fresh Start Surgical Gifts. I have been affiliated with Fresh Start since 2000. Fresh Start transforms the lives of disadvantaged children with physical deformities caused by birth, accidents, abuse or disease through the gift of reconstructive surgery. We had a complicated case! Our patient was a swe