For patients
Before your surgery.
Most of what goes wrong on the day of surgery goes wrong the week before, in a phone call nobody made. This page is the phone call.
Fasting — sedation6 hours food · 2 hours clear fluids
EscortRequired for sedation and GA
Questions(612) 555-0148
01 · Two weeks before
Tell us everything, particularly the things that feel irrelevant.
Every medicine. Every operation. Every allergy. Whether you have ever fainted at a blood test. Whether you have a bad experience behind you that we should know about.
02 · The day before
Fasting, and why we are strict about it
If you are having sedation or a general anaesthetic, an empty stomach is a safety requirement, not a formality. We will postpone rather than proceed, and that is not us being awkward.
| If you are having | Food | Clear fluids | Escort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local anaesthetic only | Eat normally — please do eat | Normal | Not needed |
| Local with IV sedation | Nothing for 6 hours | Water or black tea/coffee until 2 hours before | Required, and must stay with you |
| General anaesthesia | Nothing for 6 hours | Water until 2 hours before | Required, overnight |
Take your usual medicines with a small sip of water unless we have told you otherwise in writing. Clear fluids means you can see through it: water, black tea, black coffee. Not milk, not orange juice with pulp, not a protein shake.
03 · On the day
Bring, and leave behind.
Arrive fifteen minutes early. If you are running late, call rather than rush — a sedation list runs to a plan and it is usually better to move you than to compress you.
Bring
- A written list of every medicine you take, including inhalers, patches, injections, herbal remedies and anything you buy over the counter
- Your insurance card and photo identification
- The name and telephone number of your own dentist and your family doctor
- A responsible adult over 18 to drive you home and stay with you, if you are having sedation or general anaesthesia
- Flat shoes, short sleeves, and no nail varnish on at least one finger so the monitor can read through it
- Your inhaler, if you use one
- Someone to sit with you in the consultation if you would find that easier
Leave at home
- Contact lenses — bring glasses instead
- Jewellery, including tongue and lip piercings, which must be out before sedation
- Make-up, especially around the eyes
- Anything valuable
04 · What happens
The shape of the appointment.
On arrivalIdentity and consent confirmed, medications checked again, the plan read back to you. This repetition is deliberate.
PreparationIf you are having sedation: a cannula in the back of the hand or the arm, monitoring on your finger, chest and arm, and oxygen through a small nasal tube.
AnaesthesiaLocal anaesthetic is given in every case, including under sedation and general anaesthesia, because it is what keeps you comfortable afterwards.
The procedureUsually shorter than people expect. You will hear noise and feel pressure and movement; you should not feel sharpness. Tell us if you do.
RecoveryTwenty to forty minutes in the recovery chair after sedation, with your escort called in towards the end.
Going homeWritten instructions, a contact number, and any prescription. Please take the written instructions — the recovery page is a supplement to them, not a replacement.
Questions
Before the day.
For sedation or general anaesthesia: no food for six hours beforehand, and no clear fluids for two hours. Clear fluids means water, black tea or black coffee without milk — not milk, not smoothies, not fizzy drinks with pulp. For local anaesthetic alone, eat normally and in fact do eat: arriving hungry makes people faint.
Almost always yes, with a small sip of water, and that includes blood pressure tablets, inhalers and anti-epileptics. There are specific exceptions — some diabetes medicines and some blood thinners — and we will give you written instructions for those at your consultation. Never change a medicine on your own the night before.
Not unless we and your prescribing doctor have told you to in writing. For most dental surgery we continue anticoagulants and antiplatelets and manage bleeding locally, because interrupting them carries risks of its own. If you have already stopped it because someone told you to, tell us before we start.
Please tell us the name, the dose, how often, and when your last dose was, including drugs you stopped some years ago. These medicines are associated with medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw after extractions and implant surgery, and knowing the details changes how we plan. It rarely means we cannot treat you.
After local anaesthetic alone, yes. After any intravenous sedation or general anaesthesia, absolutely not — and you cannot take a taxi or a rideshare alone either. You need a responsible adult to collect you and stay with you for the rest of the day and overnight. We will reschedule rather than sedate you without one, and we would rather tell you that now than on the morning.
Call us. A cold sore or a heavy cold usually means postponing sedation, and a chest infection certainly does. It is not a wasted appointment; it is the right decision, and we would far rather move it.
Tell us at the consultation rather than on the day, because anxiety is easier to plan around than to manage in the moment. Options include sedation, a longer appointment, a first-thing slot so you are not waiting, and simply agreeing a signal that means stop. None of this is unusual and none of it is a nuisance.
Yes. For most procedures one person can sit in with you. For sedation lists we usually ask them to wait in the waiting area, because the room is busy and we need clear access to you.