Anesthesia progress
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The risk for complications while providing dental procedures is greatest when caring for patients having significant medical compromise. It is comforting that significant adverse events can generally be prevented by careful preoperative assessment, along with attentive intraoperative monitoring and support. Nevertheless, the office team must be prepared to manage untoward events should they arise. This continuing education article will address basic emergency drugs that should be available in all dental practices and additional agents that become essential for those practices providing various levels of procedural sedation or general anesthesia.
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Anesthesia progress · Jan 2014
Case ReportsRepeated anesthetic management for a patient with Klippel-Feil syndrome.
Klippel-Feil syndrome (KFS) is a rare disease characterized by a classic triad comprising a short neck, a low posterior hairline, and restricted motion of the neck due to fused cervical vertebrae. We report repeated anesthetic management for orthognathic surgeries for a KFS patient with micrognathia. Because KFS can be associated with a number of other anomalies, we therefore performed a careful preoperative evaluation to exclude them. ⋯ In the operating room, tracheotomy equipment was always kept ready if a perioperative surgical airway control was required. Three orthognathic surgeries and their associated anesthetics were completed without a fatal outcome, although once the patient was transferred to the intensive care unit for precautionary postoperative airway management and observation. Careful preoperative examination and preparation for difficult airway management are important for KFS patients with micrognathia.
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Anesthesia progress · Jan 2013
Comparative StudyPost-sedation events in children sedated for dental care.
Moderate oral sedation is used in pediatric dentistry for safe delivery of dental care to children. However, there is a paucity of data on the effects of pediatric dental sedations after discharge of children from the dental office. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the incidence of adverse events occurring with meperidine and hydroxyzine versus midazolam alone 8 and 24 hours after sedation in pediatric dental patients. ⋯ There were no statistical differences between the 2 groups with respect to incidence of pain, fever, vomiting, sleeping in the car, snoring, and difficulty in waking up. The lingering effects of orally administered sedation medications can lead to prolonged sleep, irritability, and vomiting in children after they have been discharged from the dental clinic. Most of these events occurred within the first 8 hours, but in some children the effects were seen up to 24 hours later.
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Anesthesia progress · Jan 2013
Comparative StudyVentilation via cut nasotracheal tube during general anesthesia.
Many patients with disabilities need recurrent dental treatment under general anesthesia because of high caries prevalence and the nature of dental treatment. We evaluated the use of a nasal device as a possible substitute for flexible laryngeal mask airway to reduce the risk of unexpected failure accompanying intubation; we succeeded in ventilating the lungs with a cut nasotracheal tube (CNT) with its tip placed in the pharynx. We hypothesized that this technique would be useful during dental treatment under general anesthesia and investigated its usefulness as part of a minimally invasive technique. ⋯ Mouth gags slightly reduced the rate of effective ventilation in the neck flexion position. Most dental treatments involving minor oral surgeries were performed using mouth gags during CNT ventilation. CNT ventilation was shown to be superior to mask ventilation and is useful during dental treatment under general anesthesia.