Intravenous sedation

Anesthesia is essential to any surgery. Depending on the type of treatment you are going to receive, several types of anesthesia can be used. Indeed, the technique of anesthesia will not be the same to extract a tooth as for orthognathic surgery of the jaws. The choice of the technique depends not only on the importance of the surgery, but also on your state of health and your level of stress in the intervention. Anesthesia techniques can be classified into three categories.

Local anesthesia

It has the effect of creating an absence of sensation in a region of the body. It is performed using an anesthetic, which is a substance capable of preventing the nerve transmission of pain. Local anesthesia can be performed by topical application of the anesthetic, which consists of applying it to the skin or mucosa in the form of a gel or spray. The other way is to inject the anesthetic near the nerve responsible for the sensation in the region that one wishes to anesthetize. Often, both modes of administration are used at the same time. A topical anesthetic is applied where you wish to inject so that you do not feel the needlestick thereafter. You should know that a site that has an infection will be more difficult to anesthetize properly.

Sedation

Sedation is a conscious or semi-conscious state where the patient is relaxed and loses the notion of time. It also allows you to have no memory of the intervention. It should be understood that sedation helps the procedure to proceed smoothly, but does not replace the local anesthesia that is always needed.

It is often known as intravenous sedation because it is the most commonly used route of administration. Nevertheless, it is possible to induce sedation orally with the help of drugs and by inhalation with the aid of a gas.

General anaesthesia

General anesthesia is an unconscious state, a coma induced by drugs. It must necessarily take place in a hospital and under the supervision of an anesthesiologist. Various substances are inhaled or administered intravenously to lull the patient to sleep, to remove the pain and to relax his muscles. Muscular immobility is an essential aspect of general anesthesia because it is not desirable for the patient to be able to perform involuntary movements that may interfere with surgery. However, the lack of muscle activity poses a problem with the muscles breathing and causes respiratory arrest. The patient is intubated (a flexible tube is put in his trachea) to help him breathe.

Before proceeding with general anesthesia, there may be premedication. It is an anxiolytic to relax patients who are often anxious about their surgery. Following the surgery, the patient will receive a specific prescription for his needs. In particular, it may be prescribed painkillers, anti-nausea, antibiotics, etc.

Of course, general anesthesia has some side effects. The most common are: nausea, vomiting, sore throat, dental damage, temporary numbness of the limbs, pain in the vein where the drugs were injected and a state of confusion in the hours following waking.