What type of monitoring devices are used?
The type of anesthesia planned and the medical condition of the patient dictates the type of monitoring
used. If the patient has serious medical problems, even if local anesthesia alone is planned for the
surgery, the anesthesia care provider may decide that pulse oximetry, blood pressure and
electrocardiograph monitoring would be in the patient’s best interest. The depth of anesthesia might
range from conscious intravenous sedation (minimal sedation), deep intravenous sedation (half awake
and half asleep), or intravenous/inhalational maintained general anesthesia (fully asleep). There are
specific anesthesia care guidelines published by several organizations including: American Dental
Association (ADA), American Academy of Pediatric Dentists (AAPD), American Association of Oral
and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS), and the American Board of Anesthesiologists (ASA). These
guidelines are published by the organizations web sites or appear in their official publications and were
developed for the protection of the patient undergoing office anesthesia. Our offices comply will ALL the
different guidelines. Routine monitors utilized for each procedure include; non-invasive blood pressure,
pulse oximetry, ECG, temperature, end tidal CO2 and gas analysis.