Paediatric Oral Surgery An Overview Introduction
Oral surgical procedures are considered to be the most anxiety-provoking treatment procedures in children.
The surgical anatomy, mode of local anaesthesia, objectives and treatment protocols, surgical overview, and post-operative care and management in paediatric oral surgery are relatively similar to those in adults.
However, the emphasis lies on the behaviour management of the child.
A child can be described as an emotionally immature adult.
Read And Learn More: Paediatric Dentistry Notes
Behaviour management techniques have to be efficient to tackle and allay the fear and anxiety associated with surgical treatment.
The composure and level of cooperation have to be maintained till the end of the procedure.
The points of significance in paediatric oral surgery are as follows:
1. Depth of local anaesthesia, that is, complete, profound anaesthesia of the tissues being manipulated, is very important in paediatric care.Complete anaesthesia ensures relatively painless treatment and maintains the child’s positive behaviour.
A child expresses a hurt cry when in pain due to insufficient anaesthesia. The dentist will not be able to perform at his best in such situations. Paediatric oral surgery under insufficient anaesthesia is not a clinical error but a crime.
2. Post-operative pain and inflammatory signs/ symptoms arise from the soft tissues.
Although these inflammatory symptoms are inevitable, gentle manipulation of tissues can keep post-operative discomfort to a minimum. The first post-operative day can be christened as the signature of the surgeon.
3. Adherence to strict sterilisation is the key to infection control.
4. Appropriate instruments can ensure precision and quality in paediatric surgical care.
Small-sized periosteal elevators and pedodontics extraction forceps have to be used against customised adult-sized periosteal elevators and adult extraction forceps.
5. Adequate exposure or uncovering of soft tissues aids in better visibility and accessibility to the site of surgery. This prevents manipulation as it avoids a blind procedure.
6. Intact primary closure of the surgical wound ensures rapid, uneventful healing.
7. Detailed, pre-written post-operative instructions to the child and parent are pivotal in uneventful postoperative care and wound healing. The schedule and importance of review visits should be included. The features of good paediatric oral surgical care.
The choice of the mode and technique to obtain complete, profound local anaesthesia. The other aspects are discussed in the subsequent chapters of this unit.
Paediatric Oral Surgery Summary
Paediatric oral surgery needs special mention because of the following reasons:
- Adept behaviour management of the child is needed to efficiently tackle and allay his fear and anxiety
- Complete, profound anaesthesia of the tissues being manipulated is very important to maintain the positive behaviour of the child and allow the dentist to perform his best.
- Adherence to strict sterilisation norms is the key to infection control.
- Appropriate instruments ensure precision and quality of surgical care.
- Gentle manipulation of tissues can keep post-operative discomfort to a minimum.
- Adequate exposure or uncovering of sof tissue aids better visibility and accessibility to the site of surgery.
- Intact primary closure of the surgical wound ensures rapid, uneven healing.
- Detailed post-operative instructions must include the schedule of the review visits.
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