General dentistry
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For this first of a two-part article, anesthetic treatment modalities and specific drugs administered for third molar extractions were assessed to determine current office-based therapeutic practices. Questionnaires were mailed to a random national sample of 850 practicing oral surgeons. Survey design and pilot testing was conducted to assure clarity of questions and usefulness of responses. ⋯ Practicing oral and maxillofacial surgeons were estimated to have performed an average of 52.7 third molar extraction surgery cases per month, using either general anesthesia (46.3%), intravenous conscious sedation (33.4%), nitrous oxide sedation (5.8%), oral sedation (1.7%), or local anesthesia alone (12.9%). For intravenous conscious sedation, a three-drug technique using midazolam, fentanyl, and propofol was reported most commonly. The most frequently selected local anesthetic formulations were 2% lidocaine, 1:100,000 epinephrine for surgical anesthesia and 0.5% bupivacaine, 1:200,000 epinephrine for postoperative pain management.