&gt; I find it strange that in the US full anaesthesia is the default.<p>I don&#x27;t think is the default.  They offer it amongst a range of options, but it&#x27;s expensive usually on the order of a few hundred dollars extra.  I think most people do local + nitrous.<p>The few people who serve really upper middle class areas might offer it by default, but it&#x27;s generally just not the case for most of the US.<p>I could be wrong though, I don&#x27;t have actual data, just my own experiences.