Surgical Instructions

Before Intravenous Sedation or General Anesthesia

• You may not have anything to eat or drink (including water) for six hours prior to the appointment.
• No smoking at least 12 hours before surgery. Ideally, stop smoking two weeks or longer prior to the day of surgery.
• Do not drink any alcoholic beverages for 24 hours prior to your appointment.
• A responsible adult must accompany the patient to the office, remain in the office during the procedure, and drive the patient home.
• The patient should not drive a vehicle or operate any machinery for 24 hours following the anesthesia experience.
• Please wear loose fitting clothing with sleeves which can be rolled up past the elbow, and low-heeled shoes.
• Contact lenses, jewelry, and dentures must be removed at the time of surgery. Please bring your eyeglasses and a contact lens case to the appointment, or wear your eyeglasses.
• Do not wear lipstick, excessive makeup, or nail polish on the day of surgery.
• If you have an illness such as a cold, the flu, bronchitis, sore throat, stomach or bowel upset, please notify the office.
• If you take routine oral medications, please check with our office prior to your surgical date for instructions.
• The removal of impacted teeth is a serious surgical procedure. Post-operative care is very important. Unnecessary pain and the complications of infection and swelling can be minimized if the instructions are followed carefully.

Immediately Following Surgery

The gauze pad placed over the surgical area should be kept in place for a half hour. After this time, the gauze pad should be removed and discarded.

Mouth rinsing or touching the wound area following surgery should be avoided. This may cause bleeding by disturbing the beneficial blood clot.

Take the recommended and/or prescribed pain medications as soon as you begin to feel discomfort. This will usually coincide with the local anesthetic becoming diminished.