Section III. INSTRUMENT SETUPS AND PROCEDURES
3-27. GENERAL
Procedures commonly used in the oral surgery section will be discussed in the
following paragraphs of this lesson. Basic and local hospital operating room procedures
are described in Field Manuel (FM) 8-73 and FM 8-74. See appendix A for the listing of
the instruments in a typical surgical setup.
3-28. PREPARATION TO RECEIVE THE PATIENT
Preparation to receive a patient begins with the cleanup and sterilization of
instruments used during the treatment of the preceding patient. All evidence of treatment
of that patient should be removed. Traces of blood should be removed from the dental
unit and instrument trays. The cuspidor, aspirator bottles, handles, tips, and tubes should
be cleaned. Instruments should be scrubbed and either sterilized or set aside for
sterilization. Linens, headrest covers, and bracket table covers should be replaced. The
dental chair should be lowered and set in an upright position with the bracket table and
operating lamp pushed back out of the way. The next patient's records and radiographs
should be set out for the dental officer to examine. A basic examination setup (lesson 1)
should be placed on the bracket table. Instrument setups, sterile towels, and dressings
(as indicated by the dental officer) should be on hand and their need anticipated.
3-29. PREOPERATIVE TREATMENT
In some cases, the dental officer may wish the next patient to have some form of
medication before surgery and may have the patient come in early for this purpose. The
dental specialist may be expected to make a record of patients requiring such medication,
notifying the dental officer of the patient's arrival, reminding him of the need for
medication, and recording the medications given. The oral surgery assistant should be
familiar with the uses, doses, and effects of these and other drugs important in the
practice of oral surgery.
3-30. EXTRACTIONS
a. General. Extraction in oral surgery refers to the removal of teeth. That phase
of oral surgery that deals with extractions is called exodontia. Teeth can frequently be
removed simply through proper application of force using extraction forceps or elevators.
Other teeth, because of the curvature of roots, the divergence of roots, excessive
cementum (called hypercementosis), density of bone, or alignment of the teeth may be
harder to extract. In these cases, the use of elevators, the removal of bone, the
sectioning of teeth with burs or chisels, or combinations of these procedures may be
necessary. Instruments and techniques used will vary with the tooth, with the presence of
complicating conditions as described above, and with the techniques favored by the
dental officer.
MD0503
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