Duration of general anesthesia
The duration of general anesthesia depends on the extent of the dental treatment and can vary from a few minutes to several hours.However, after a thorough examination, the dentist can already estimate how long the anesthesia will last approximately. Basically one can distinguish three phases of general anesthesia: Falling asleep phase, maintenance phase and wake-up phase. Especially the phase of falling asleep and the wake-up phase vary in length from patient to patient.
After completion of the treatment, the anaesthetic is drained and an “antidote” is injected, which cancels out the effect of the anaesthetic. After awakening from anesthesia, a feeling of dizziness may prevail until complete brain activity is restored. This state can last one to two hours, so the patient should rest during this time. The awakening phase is again monitored by the anesthesiologist in order to be able to quickly counteract complications. As a rule, hardly any complications are known after anaesthesia during dental operations, as the tolerance of the drugs used is good.
Propofol for sedation
In dental surgery, “minor anaesthesia” is often used. This involves sedating the patient, which means that the central nervous system is slowed down and the patient’s own consciousness is less active. Propofol is a drug that belongs to the group of general anesthetics.
It is mainly used to induce narcosis, such as a general anaesthetic. It is administered through the veins in the arm or hand. Propofol is characterized by its rapid onset of action and its relaxing effect.
Propofol inhibits certain areas of the brain that are responsible for short-term and long-term memory and decision making, resulting in a hypnotic state. It is administered directly into the vein and acts much faster than inhaled anesthetics. After the injection, hypnosis is achieved after only thirty seconds, but it lasts only five to ten minutes due to the rapid spread of the active substance into other tissues.
Therefore, Propofol must be constantly administered for a longer duration of the operation. However, since Propofol does not have an analgesic effect, an opioid is also administered to eliminate the pain. As a rule, the “minor anesthesia” is very well tolerated and side effects such as nausea or vomiting rarely occur.
Nevertheless, side effects such as a drop in blood pressure can occur. The drug should not be used in patients suffering from circulatory disorders, pregnant women and nursing mothers. Learn more about this under: Short anaesthesia with Propofol
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