Anesthesia & pain control in dentistry
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Anesth Pain Control Dent · Jan 1993
ReviewCirculatory effects of vasoconstrictors combined with local anesthetics.
Vasoconstrictors are clinically used as adjuvants to local anesthetics to improve anesthetic action and to minimize local bleeding. Accidental intravascular injection or rapid systemic absorption of vasoconstrictors can induce a number of potentially life-threatening circulatory risks, which are described in this paper.
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Anesth Pain Control Dent · Jan 1993
Practice Guideline GuidelineChanges in guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and emergency cardiac care.
At the Fifth National Conference on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiac Care held in Dallas in February 1992, changes in the guidelines for basic life support and advanced cardiac life support were recommended. These changes are defined and explained in this article.
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Arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) was monitored postoperatively with pulse oximetry in 80 dental patients receiving nitrous oxide and oxygen. These patients were divided into four equal groups, three of which received nitrous oxide (N2O) and oxygen (O2) in ratios of 20:80, 40:60, and 60:40, respectively. The fourth group received 100% O2 and served as the control. ⋯ One patient in the 40% N2O group experienced an SaO2 of less than 90%, but no patient experienced clinically significant hypoxia. In the 40% and 60% N2O groups, the percent change of SaO2 from the baseline was greater, and the SaO2 returned to baseline slower. The difference in mean SaO2 between smokers and nonsmokers was greater in the 40% N2O group.
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This case demonstrates the necessity of adequate emergency management during dental treatment. A 57-year-old man loses consciousness immediately after the injection of a dental local anesthetic. For medical assistance, a neighboring general practitioner is first telephoned without success. ⋯ Finally, an emergency doctor is dispatched and arrives approximately 35 minutes after the emergency situation began. The electrocardiogram shows a supraventricular tachycardia which, after an immediate cardioversion, converts to a sinus rhythm connected with a restoration of the circulatory function. This case exemplifies the consequences of an inadequate response to a sudden emergency.
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Anesth Pain Control Dent · Jan 1993
Prevention of anaphylactic-anaphylactoid reactions to anesthetics in high-risk allergic patients.
To confirm the role of preventive procedures in high-risk allergic patients, immunological tests in vivo for anesthetics were carried out in 251 atopic patients. The 6-month follow-up showed a complete absence of adverse reactions during the clinical use of hypnotic and muscle relaxant drugs. In the case of local anesthetics, five adverse reactions were observed after dental treatment--four were related to a psychogenic mechanism, and one could not be clearly linked to the local anesthetic. It is possible to confirm that the use of a tested drug that yields negative results has a lower probability of inducing anaphylactic-anaphylactoid reactions during anesthesia.