Some surgeries can be done with local anesthesia (numbing in the mouth) only and without using IV sedation. If a patient wants surgery with numbing only, without IV sedation, and we agree the surgery can be done without sedation, the patient must have a separate consultation appointment on a different day before the surgery.
IV sedation is $180 per 15 minutes for surgeries that do not include sedation. Most of our surgeries do include IV sedation in the price. Check the page for your specific surgery to see if sedation is included.
Pre-Sedation or General Anesthesia Instructions
See our full Oral Surgery Pre-Op Sedation Instructions here. Failure to follow the instructions will result in surgery being cancelled.
Plan to go home and do nothing after sedation. Do not plan to drive, work, exercise, do chores, etc. until the next day.
Briefly, patients planning to have IV sedation or General Anesthesia:
- Must be fasting for at least eight hours (except for water, you may have small amounts of water up to two hours before the appointment). In most cases you may take your morning medications with a sip of water. If you have questions about medications before surgery, please call the office at 210-778-0002.
- Cannot wear artificial fingernails or nail polish to their appointment – both interfere with our monitors.
- Should have an adult driver (age 18+) to take them home and should NOT drive again until the following day. We do not allow sedated patients to take a taxi, bus, or ride share.
- Must bring their inhaler to the surgery if they have an inhaler. Bring the inhaler even if it has not been required or used in a long time.
Sedation Information
Watch Dr. Haverkorn’s video on sedation and general anesthesia below.
Sedation is used to relax patients so the surgery is easier for everyone. In the US, most wisdom teeth are removed with IV sedation. IV sedation is also used for procedures like colonoscopies or placing heart stents. IV sedation can range from light to deep. Light sedation means the patient feels relaxed and may lightly doze off but can communicate and remembers most of the procedure. Deep sedation means the patient is completely passed out, does not respond, and probably only vaguely remembers starting the IV. Most deeply sedate patients do not even remember leaving the office – they were awake & responsive when they left but they don’t remember it later. Sedation does not take away pain, we use local anesthetics injections after the patient is sedated to block pain.
We prefer to keep our patients on the deep side of sedation when safe. Severe heart or lung disease, severe sleep apnea, significant obesity, and other conditions may prevent us from using deep sedation. These patients may still be a candidate for light or moderate sedation.
For your safety, Dr. Haverkorn maintains certification in advanced cardiac life support and pediatric advanced life support. Our office routinely holds emergency drills and keeps a fully stocked crash cart. Dr. Haverkorn still intubates patients in the OR to maintain his skills and is one of only a few oral surgeons to have elective tracheotomy privileges at the hospital, meaning Dr. Haverkorn is experienced and comfortable handling difficult airways.
We offer IV sedation to five years and above. This is hard rule for us. We will not sedate children who are 4 years and 364 days old or younger. There is no maximum age. We do not restrain children to start IVs. If a child cannot tolerate placement of an IV we will take the child to an operating room where an anesthesiologist can use gas to put the child to sleep until an IV can be started.
General Anesthesia
We do offer general anesthesia either in our office or at the hospital using the services of a medical anesthesiologist. General anesthesia is available to any patient for any surgery if desired. There is an additional fee for this service that varies depending on the case. General anesthesia by the medical anesthesiologist is included with our full mouth dental implants. This is the same type of anesthesia used for a knee replacement, removing your appendix, or even heart surgery.
