It’s understandable if patients have a minor amount of anxiety when facing oral surgery, especially if it’s the first time they’ve ever seen an oral surgeon. Knowing what to expect at your initial consultation can help to put your mind at ease.
Examination & Treatment Plan
The initial appointment is the first step of the treatment planning process. At this session, your oral surgeon will examine your jaw and likely take some kind of internal images via x-ray or some other imaging technology in order to better visualize the surgical site and prepare for the specific procedure that will be performed. At this session, your medical history, including any medications that you take, will be reviewed. Those factors may influence the surgery in some way.
Pre-Operative & Post-Operative Instructions
Additionally, if this is the only time that you will see the oral surgeon prior to your surgery, you will also get pre-operative and post-operative instructions. If you will be receiving sedation, you will be educated on that and given information about how to prepare (e.g. if fasting in advance is necessary, preparing to have someone escort you home from the appointment, etc).
You will also get instructions of self-care after the procedure to reduce your risk of complications like infection. Patients should not smoke until they have healed from surgery (and ideally they’ll abstain even after that), as smoking can interfere with healing. There may be other directions more specific to your procedure, such as avoiding drinking straws after wisdom tooth extraction to minimize the likelihood that you’ll develop dry sockets.
Nothing at the initial consultation should cause you any significant discomfort, although if the procedure is being planned to address an issue that is causing you pain, the process of examining your teeth and jaws may trigger some sensation. Be sure to bring this to your surgeon’s attention if this becomes problematic for you.
If you have any questions that we can answer before your initial consultation at our office, don’t hesitate to contact us to ask. We want to make sure that you are as prepared as possible for every step in the surgery process.
Call us at Oral Surgery Associates of North Texas to speak to a member of our caring team!
Comments are closed.