A pearl of wisdom is a small piece of advice that can be very helpful. Our staff uses this page to offer you “words of wisdom” to make your experience here as pleasant as possible!
Alleviate Fear and Anxiety
First, we want you to know that when you come here you are getting the best care possible. We are nice, approachable people. Beyond that, we are the experts in alleviating fear and anxiety with anesthesia.
Preparing For Anesthesia
When you are preparing to come in for a procedure we want you to be as comfortable as possible. Our surgical suites are very warm and soothing, however after anesthesia, patient’s may feel a little chilly. We offer advice on what to wear:
- Sweat pants and a short sleeved shirt with a zipper up sweatshirt would be great!
- If you’re looking for extra comforts of home, bring a little blanket and your favorite stuffed animal.
- Remember to follow our instructions for preoperative care.
Wi-Fi Internet
We want our patient’s escorts to also have a pleasant experience while they wait. Please let them know that our waiting room is Wi-Fi accessible. This means that they can bring their laptops or Internet connected device and connect to the Internet during their wait.
Insurance
Insurance coverage is confusing at best…we know this first hand. We do however, have some advice:
- Be insurance savvy, find out what your coverage is, know your limitations.
- Be aware that HMO’s don’t typically cover oral surgery for clients in or out of network.
- When dealing with in or out of network dental plans, typically it doesn’t matter where you go, however your benefits may be paid at different levels.
- During your consultation you will be presented with a financial agreement. This is an estimation of fees for treatment. We are always happy to give you a copy with procedure codes. This will allow you to call your insurance company and find out for yourself what they might cover for each charge. We can look into that for you too. Just ask!
Your First Visit
- If you are referred to our office by your general dentist have him or her fill out a referral card and give you any x-rays that will help with the referral.
- If you want to save time, print out our patient forms and fill them out before you come in.
- If you want to get in and out as quickly as possible schedule your exam as early in the afternoon as possible.
After Surgery
- It is normal to feel sleepy. The anesthetic medicatives typically take about 24 hours to clear out of your system. This varies from person to person.
- It is normal to feel numbness at your surgical sites. This usually lasts for a few hours.
- To keep you comfortable, we suggest you start taking your prescribed pain medication as soon as possible. This allows the medication to begin working before the numbness wears off.
- As soon as you get home it is extremely important that you eat something! We suggest ice cream, yogurt, and cottage cheese…. anything soft. We want you to get something in your stomach. This aids in your recovery and will help relieve nausea.
- When you leave you will have gauze in your mouth over the surgical sites. We recommend that you change them every twenty minutes, if bleeding still persists. It is important for the gauze pads to be applying pressure right at the surgical sites. However, after about an hour you will need to take them out so that the blood clot can form to its full potential.
- To ensure proper health and healing we strongly recommend that you refrain from smoking for at least a week.
- It is normal to notice a little blood in your saliva for a couple of days. It will look pink. We suggest you cover your pillow during the next couple of days.
