Informed consent in oral and maxillofacial surgery: a study of its efficacy

This paper explains the legal principle of informed consent in surgery and presents the results of a study of the efficacy of verbal information as part of the informed consent process in oral and maxillofacial surgery, using third molar surgery as a model. The results showed that patients were most likely to recall being warned about pain and swelling and less likely to recall being warned about trismus, dysaesthesia of the lip and dysaesthesia of the tongue. The last two are complications with important medicolegal implications. It appeared to make no difference to their recall if they were given this information on a preadmission clinic or on admission. The implications of these findings are discussed.