Anesthetic Choices

Local Anesthesia

Local Anesthesia involves injections in the oral cavity to provide numbness of the surgical site. Utilizing a local anesthetic alone, you will remain alert and aware of your surroundings.

Oral Pre-medications

A benzodiazepine sedative, such as Halcion, may be given approximately two hours prior to your surgical procedure. This is to help you relax and reduce your anxiety levels associated with the planned surgery. If you choose this method, you should avoid a heavy meal prior to your visit. Also, you should have someone drive you to our office and drive you home because of the effects the medication may have on your driving ability for up to 24 hours postoperatively.

Intravenous Sedation

This technique involves placing an IV catheter and administrating medications through the IV to help reduce consciousness, help relaxation, and decrease stress. Sometimes amnesia and increased pain tolerance may occur. Furthermore, with this technique, you may not have anything to eat or drink for 8 (eight) hours prior to surgery and an adult must escort you home and watch over you following surgery for at least 24 hours. Sometimes an intravenous sedation may require a medical consultation with your physician.

Inhalational Anesthesia

Inhalational anesthesia allows administration of vapors through a face mask that you breath. These agents are similar to those given through an IV catheter to help reduce consciousness, help relaxation and decrease stress. Because our facility offers an ASC (Ambulatory Surgery Center) we can often administer inhalational agents to decrease consciousness before placement of an IV catheter to help reduce anxiety. Similar to IV sedation, you may not have anything to eat or drink for 8 (eight) hours prior to surgery and an adult must escort you home and watch over you after surgery for at least 24 hours. Sometimes a medical consultation with your physician may be necessary as well.

General Anesthesia / Deep Sedation

This anesthetic technique allows for the patient to become unconscious during their surgical procedure. Most patients will be completely unaware of their surgical procedure and will have little or no recollection of what has transpired during the effects of the medications. Our ASC (Ambulatory Surgery Center) and use of CRNAs (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists) allows our surgeons to perform procedures with intubation that would otherwise require a day surgery center or hospital setting. Sometimes general anesthesia can be performed with IV medications through sedation, but we can also plan intubation (a tube placed behind your tongue to breathe for you) to complete more advanced surgeries such as facial trauma, difficult dentoalveolar or dental implant surgeries, and orthognathic or jaw surgeries.

With this technique no food or water is allowed for 8 (eight) hours prior to the procedure and again someone must accompany you home and watch over you for the remainder of the day. Also, this technique may require a medical consultation with your physician or medical specialist if you are on other medications or have other health issues as determined at your consultation with one of our surgeons.

Please note that patients taking regular medications for things such as heart conditions, high blood pressure, diabetes, seizure disorders, thyroid disorders, gastric reflux, asthma and other conditions may need to take their medication with a small amount of water even if it is within the 8 (eight) hour time frame prior to surgery (unless instructed otherwise by our surgical staff or nurse, you should take your medications at least 2 (two) hours before your surgery with as minimal water as possible).

It would be helpful at your initial consultation to have a complete list of medications and your physicians’ names and phone numbers as it will facilitate the consultation progress. Please remember we are following the highest standard of care as set forth by the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, so we would like to have all information available.

If you should have any questions regarding the above information, please remember your initial consultation will include review of all items mentioned above as well as our doctors’ opinion on the surgical and anesthetic techniques that should be utilized to make it as safe and comfortable for you as possible.