Pre-Treatment Information

Time off Work/School: Please arrange to take days off work or school based on your surgeon’s recommendations (usually between 3-5 days).

Escort: It is very important that if your treatment requires general anaesthetic, you either come with someone to your surgical appointment or at least arrange someone to collect you afterwards. You also need to organise someone to look after you for the next 24 hours following your discharge. Unsupervised taxi transport home is unacceptable.

Eating & Drinking: Fasting (not eating or drinking) is necessary to minimise the risk of regurgitating your stomach contents and causing damage to your lungs from the stomach acid.

The following guidelines are recommended by ANZCA:

1) You are NOT allowed to eat food or drink any type of fluid (except water) at least for SIX hours prior to surgery.

2) You are allowed to have sips of water for your comfort and to swallow your medications up until TWO hours prior to surgery.

Shower & Mouth Care: Please have a shower in the morning and clean your teeth as normal.

Clothing & Jewellery: Please wear something comfortable and remove all of your jewellery. If you have any body piercings inside your mouth or around your face, you may be asked to remove these. Do not bring any valuables with you.

It is very important that you follow the above instructions. Please also be aware that your surgery may be cancelled to ensure your safety if these instructions have not been followed. Ring one of our nurses if you are unsure of anything.

One of our staff members will give you a reminder call the day before your surgery to confirm this appointment. During this call we will go through your preparation check list again with you. This will also give you an opportunity to ask us any questions you have.

We may need to slightly change the time of your surgery in order to make the day run smoothly. This is because we prefer to perform surgeries on children/medically compromised patients/urgent cases first thing in the morning.

When you arrive at our reception desk you will be greeted and asked to fill out a form that gives us details of the escort who will collect you after your surgery and when you last had something to eat or drink. You will then be asked to settle your accounts with us, as needed.

Your surgeon will come and see you prior to surgery to address any questions you have and to sign the consent form. It is common for your escort to leave the clinic while your surgery is being performed. Your length of stay following your surgery will depend on your operation and recovery needs.

When you enter our operating theatre you will be asked to rinse your mouth with a provided antiseptic mouthwash. Once you are seated comfortably on the operating chair we will take some baseline recordings for your blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen saturation.

From there, the procedure will be executed, following the plan discussed prior.

When you wake up you will be in the recovery room being looked after by our recovery nurse. As you wake up it is normal to experience nausea, bleeding in your mouth and discomfort. The recovery nurse may initially give you oxygen via a mask. You may also be given some medications that will help your nausea and pain.

When you recover fully from any anaesthesia used and your escort (if required) has arrived, the recovery nurse will go through post-operative instructions and a prescription will be written up by your surgeon. Upon discharge your escort will receive our discharge pack which normally contains:

• Post-operative instruction sheet and urgent contact details

• Prescription

• Follow-up appointments

• Pack of gauzes

• Antiseptic mouthwash

• Soft tooth brush

• X-Rays or scans

You may not receive some of these items based on your needs.