What is general anesthesia?
General anesthesia is a procedure in which the patient is brought into an unconscious and pain-free state in a controlled manner by an anesthetist. Anesthesia is started with drugs that are given in the form of gas or injections. Upon completion of the planned treatments, the drug is stopped and the patient begins to wake up. During the procedure, the patient’s vital signs are continuously monitored by the anesthetist.
What is sedation?
Before the dental treatment, the patient is calmed down by taking some sedative medication and a short amnesia (forgetfulness) completes the dental treatment of the patient with a local anesthetic in a painless way. With this technique, the patient can follow the doctor’s instructions but cannot remember anything after the operation. Depending on the process, the sedation can be conscious (light), medium and deep. The patient is conscious but is in a mild state of sleep. The patient follows the instructions. It is used in small doses through an intravenous line. This method is usually preferred in adult patients who are afraid of dentists, have an increased nausea reflex and nausea, and patients for whom general anesthesia could be dangerous and also brief procedures in children. Recovery from sedation is quick. The patient cannot remember anything after the procedure.
Under what conditions does general anesthesia / sedation take place and how?
Anesthesia in safe conditions is performed primarily by an experienced and knowledgeable anesthesia team and advanced anesthesia equipment. The process continues with the findings and consultations requested by our anesthetist after the preliminary information obtained and the examinations carried out. In this environment, far from fear, the patient is taken to the dentist’s chair with adequate sedation. Anesthesia takes place in the operating room and is performed in an environment that has the most advanced anesthesia equipment and where vital functions are continuously monitored and recorded throughout the treatment.
The institution must have an operating room for general anesthesia. Anesthesia machines, breathing anesthetic gases, other anesthetic agents and anesthetic equipment must be available within the operating room. A completely sterile environment and filtered ventilation are also required.
preparations before and after the operation;
Adult patients do not need to eat or drink anything 8 hours before, and 6 hours in children. In addition, we will request some tests to check the general condition of the patient and examine the patient before anesthesia. These are tests such as blood values, bleeding values, EKG, lung X-rays and fasting blood sugar. We use this to check whether the patient has an undiagnosed disease before the procedure.
When the anesthesia is over, the anesthetic effects are completely reversed and canceled. It does not cause brain damage, paralysis or addiction after years. If necessary, a person can have several anesthesia on the same day. (In some cases this is necessary.) However, a different drug or method will be selected for those who are family sensitive to anesthetics.
For which type of patient is general anesthesia / sedation preferred in dentistry?
– In children or adults with whom it is not possible to communicate despite the need for emergency treatment
– Common caries in small children with bottle caries or early childhood caries that cannot be treated by persuasion
– In cases where general anesthesia will reduce the medical risks (such as some systemic diseases)
– In children who need to be treated in one session for any reason (remote residence, risk of allergic reaction, etc.)
– Adult patients with a severe phobia (fear)
– Surgical interventions that require general anesthesia (bone graft, bone cyst, etc.)
– Groups of patients who want to have several surgical interventions performed under general anesthesia in a short period of time (approx. 2 hours) that cannot be carried out in just one session using local anesthesia.
– In children with physical disabilities
– In children with mental (intellectual) disabilities
