Todd,
The dentists are credited as the originators of the specialty of Anesthesia.
Most of the early Anesthesiologists were all dentists. This article is self
explanatory, as to why they would even attempt to go into a specialty so diverse
from their own.

Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2006 11:07:20 -0700
From: Todd Caldecott
Subject: 9000 year old dentistry
Proving prehistoric man's ingenuity and ability to withstand and
inflict excruciating pain, researchers have found that dental
drilling dates back 9,000 years. Primitive dentists drilled nearly
perfect holes into live but undoubtedly unhappy patients between 5500
B.C. and 7000 B.C., an article in Thursday's journal Nature reports.
<snip>
Durgesh Mankikar,MD