Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy After Dental Extraction: Response

Dr. Harvey has questioned why we did not suggest that our patient's ischemic optic neuropathy was related to the use of systemic anesthetic agents rather than due to the local block given for dental anesthesia. We did not discount the possibility of the systemic effects of anesthesia and discussed these in the final 3 paragraphs of our report. We emphasized that our patient had no cardiovascular findings to suggest the systemic effects from anesthesia.