Anesthesia is a crucial part of modern surgery, and Great Basin Oral and Facial Surgery offers a complete spectrum of choices to best suit your unique physiology and preferred comfort level. Anesthesia makes treatment pain-free while keeping you calm and relaxed while undergoing your procedure, making our job — and your healing process — easy and safe.
Local Anesthesia
Local Anesthesia is the most common technique used in oral and facial surgery for pain control. These anesthetics (such as lidocaine) are delivered directly to the surgical site “locally,” numbing the tissue so you feel no pain. Often, local anesthetics are all that is needed for minor procedures or ones primarily involving soft tissues.
Nitrous Oxide
This anesthesia option, also sometimes known as "laughing gas," mixes nitrous oxide and oxygen administered through a breathing mask. This mixture renders you conscious but relaxed. Nitrous oxide is typically used with local anesthesia to eliminate pain as well as anxiety about the treatment.
IV Sedation
Intravenous sedation is sometimes called “twilight sedation” because patients are often semiconscious while totally relaxed. It may feel as though you are drifting in and out of a dream, and it is both reliable and safe for patients who are anxious about having oral surgery procedures.
In-Office General Anesthesia
This type of anesthesia option is a continuation of IV conscious sedation. The medications are still delivered through your IV; however, you will be fully unaware of anything happening during your surgery. It will usually take a few hours after surgery for the anesthetic medications to be fully processed by your body and for you to feel back to your alert self again.
Hospital General Anesthesia
For patients with serious health conditions or who are undergoing complicated surgical procedures, general anesthesia is administered in a hospital for safety reasons.