[Intraoperative adverse events in minor oral surgery. Risk analysis]

Abstract

Aim of the study: The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate oral surgical procedures performed as day surgery under local anesthesia. We examined patients' general condition, and besides checking for intraoperative complications we analyzed postoperative bleeding in patients with hemostatic disorders.

Patients: The patient population consisted of 1540 patients (797 female, 743 male), who underwent a total of 2055 minor oral surgical procedures over a 5-year period (1998-2002). Before the treatment started a data file was made for each patient, which contained information on his or her past medical history, concomitant medication, why the operation was indicated, premedication, anesthetic and surgical techniques applied, and postoperative treatment.

Results: Systemic pathologies influencing surgical decisions were found in 316 patients (20.5%), affecting 676 interventions (32.9%). In 109 patients (5.3% of the 2055) altered hemostasis was found. The surgical procedures recorded were: (operative) tooth extraction (n=394), interventions for surgical conservation of teeth (n=272), treatment for cysts (n=140), surgical revisions (n=46) and preprosthetic surgery (n=19). Passing complications, mostly systemic in nature, occurred during 27 sessions of local anesthesia (1.3%). There were 87 adverse events intraoperatively (4,2%), most of which were confined to the surgical field; specifically 15% of these complications took the form of hemorrhage. We observed no significant correlation between the occurrence of intraoperative complications and patients' gender, predisposing systemic pathologies including bleeding disorders, or age. Postoperative hemorrhage was observed significantly more frequently in patients with impaired hemostasis and required admission to hospital for inpatient treatment in 2 cases.

Conclusion: According to our investigation, oral surgery can be performed in patients with compromised general condition with as few intraoperative complications as in patients with no general medical problems. However, in individual cases specific risk factors can be present and oral surgery may be temporarily contraindicated, at least as day surgery.