General anaesthetic and sedation?

You are right. GA is clified differently for billing, so who knows what your Oral doc is really thinking (Caa-ching). Conscious sedation is generally nitrous, and or a combination of a Valium type drug, and narcotic (Demerol or Fentanyl to name more common), plus the local freezing. Anaesthetic very commonly causes post op nausea and vomiting (which you can imagine how fun that is after oral surgery), and can make you feel sludgy for days after. Did the doctor give you any indication as to whether or not you were agitated under sedation too? Maybe you were all over the table? That may also be why he/she asked. But yeah, if sedation works, then why opt for more drugs.