sedation options

What You Need to Know About Our Sedation Options

Venture Creative on July 17, 2020

Oral surgery can make potential patients anxious, and that means that there are a couple of questions that we get frequently. One is how much pain or discomfort that you can expect during a procedure, and the other we get a lot is about if you will be awake or under anesthesia for the duration. Both of these questions can be addressed by considering our various sedation options for our procedures. Based on customer comfort and the level of complexity to the procedure, there is a wide range of options, all of which we are proficient with at the Oral and Facial Surgery Institute.

Minor Procedures

Some of the simplest surgical treatments we perform include basic gum treatments and easy, simple tooth extractions. For these procedures, we generally use only a local anesthetic, which is lidocaine. Lidocaine is actually used in almost all of our sedation options as our local anesthetic, but it will be used on its own for these minor procedures.

Kicking Up a Notch with Laughing Gas

As the procedures get more complex, we add some more sedation options. For common procedures like wisdom teeth extraction or implant placements, we will add the use of nitrous oxide (known to most as laughing gas) to the lidocaine used as a local. This sedative is given to patients through a small mask that fits comfortably over your nose, quickly calming any anxiety and reducing pain sensations immensely. These effects wear off almost immediately after returning to the use of regular oxygen over the nitrous oxide.

IV Sedation or General Anesthesia in Office

As a complete surgery center, we are licensed and proficient in the use of IV sedation or general anesthesia in our own office. While we generally will only recommend the use of this sedative for complex procedures like a full-mouth reconstruction, the use of general anesthetic is safe enough to use at your choice for simple procedures like wisdom teeth removal if anxiety might be a problem.

When you undergo IV sedation in our office, a patient generally will go in and out of consciousness during the procedure. However, most patients don’t remember their procedure at all and aren’t responsive to the procedure. Even if you are technically awake, you are still basically under anesthesia and shouldn’t experience any anxiety from the procedure. One important thing to note is that the effects of anesthesia are long-lasting enough that you will need someone to drive you home after the procedure.

For Certain Instances, Sedation Can Occur in the Hospital

For some instances, including reconstructive or TMJ surgery or patients with underlying conditions, we may recommend doing the procedure in a hospital setting under the care of an anesthesiologist. However, these instances are exceptionally rare.

When you are considering oral surgery, you will have a wide range of sedation options available to you when you select the Oral and Facial Surgery Institute. Contact us today to learn more!

Sedation & Wisdom Teeth Surgery: What You Need To Know

Venture Creative on October 12, 2019

The thought of sedation or surgery can be intimidating for some people. Here at the Oral and Facial Surgery Institute, we can assure you that there is nothing to worry about, as you will never be left with any unanswered questions regarding sedation or your wisdom teeth removal. Here are some sedation tips to ease your fears.

PRE-SURGERY INSTRUCTIONS

There is nothing worse than going into surgery not knowing what you need to do to prepare for it. When you schedule at our office, you will be given sedation instructions twice. Once when scheduling your appointment, and the second time at your confirmation call. Here is how to prepare:

Nothing to eat or drink for eight hours prior to surgery.
Must have a responsible driver to drive you home after surgery.
Remove any nail polish on the first two fingers on each hand.
Take any daily medications with a tiny sip of water in the morning.
If on a blood thinner please notify us prior to your appointment (it may affect scheduling).
If you were sent with a blue referral card, bring that with you.
Payment is due at the time of service.
We do offer our paperwork online, feel free to fill it out beforehand or come in five minutes early to fill it out in office.

POST SURGERY INSTRUCTIONS

Don’t panic if you have never taken care of someone or yourself after sedation. We will make sure that you or your driver fully understand our at-home care instructions. And don’t forget, we are just one call away if you have any other care questions.

When you leave our office, you will be biting down on gauze. You will also be sent home with extra in a baggie. Change the gauze as needed every 20-30 minutes until it is a light pink color. That indicates there is mostly saliva and that the bleeding is slowing down.
You will be sent home with an irrigating syringe to be started on the third day after surgery. Make sure you stick the entire tip into the site to flush out all of the food. If not, it can lead to swelling and infections. Continue this until the holes are entirely healed.
Rinse with Peridex mouth rinse in the morning and evenings.
Take the antibiotic prescribed to prevent infections.
Eat soft foods for a few days such as yogurt, cottage cheese, smoothies, or soups (anything that is soft enough to mush with a fork).
Avoid straw use for three days.
Use ice packs on and off for 20 minutes at a time to help with swelling.

Healing

You will want to get as much rest as possible post-procedure. Most people are feeling back to normal in 3-7 days as long as the above rules are followed.

If you have an active lifestyle, you will want to rest for at least three days. After which you can resume normal activity as long as you are feeling up to it.