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Anesthesia Options

There are three anesthesia options available for most surgical procedures.  Although the patient's medical history and the complexity (and duration) of the surgery may dictate only one option in some circumstances, most often our patients have the option of choosing between one of the following anesthesia options.  Please note that each option includes local anesthesia.  Recall that local anesthesia (also called Novacaine) refers to the numbing medication that you may have received at your dentists office in the past. The difference between the options below has to do with the level of the patients awareness/consciousness.

Local Anesthesia alone the patient is awake, though the relaxing distraction of music or DirecTV is available.

Local Anesthesia with Nitrous Oxide (laughing gas) patients remain awake, though much more relaxed; a few will naturally fall asleep. Though not every patient actually laughs out loud, almost everyone becomes more relaxed. Nitrous Oxide (combined with oxygen) is delivered through a mask that fits over the nose.  Of course, clear nasal passages are needed.  A qualifier: the nitrous oxide mask can impede your surgeons access for some procedures that take place beneath the upper lip or in patients with very small mouths; in these cases it may not be an option.

For either of these first two options, there are no strict dietary limitations. Feel free to enjoy a light meal before the appointment. You may want to avoid dairy products if nitrous oxide is planned.

Intravenous Sedation with Local Anesthesia short-acting sedative medications are delivered which cause the patient to drift into a light sleep.  The patient remains arousable (drifts in and out of full sleep) and can cooperate with positioning requests during the procedure, though in most cases they will have no memory of this afterwards. Since local anesthesia injections are still gently given, no pain is perceived so patients snooze comfortably & have no pain when surgery is completed.

General Anesthesia/Deep Sedation with Local Anesthesia short-acting sedative medications are delivered which cause the patient to drift into a deeper level of sleep than is achieved with Sedation.  The patient is fully asleep & not typically arousable until the surgery has been completed and the medication infusion has been stopped. Oral Surgical procedures that occur closer to the throat (removal of wisdom teeth for example) will typically require a General Anesthesia both for the patient's safety (need for retraction vs. gag reflex) and comfort.  Patients should awaken with no pain whatsoever, since local anesthesia is given while they are asleep.

For either Sedation or General Anesthesia:

A mature adult must accompany the patient to the appointment and remain in our office during the procedure. After escorting the patient home, it is suggested that an adult remains with them throughout the day.
Patients must not eat or drink for 6 to 8 hours before the appointment. Usual medications should be taken with a sip of water.
State-of-the-art anesthesia monitoring equipment (blood pressure, EKG/heart tracing, and pulsoximetry) is used
Comfortable, short-sleeve, loose fitting clothing should be worn so that we can easily place monitoring devices; if the weather is chilling, wear a jacket over your shirt that can be removed when you arrive.

To prepare for a surgical appointment, fill any prescriptions received during the evaluation prior to the surgical appointment.