Monitoring for the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon

Parenteral medications are titrated in the oral and maxillofacial surgery office to achieve moderate sedation, deep sedation, or general anesthesia while continuously maintaining spontaneous ventilation with an open airway. After initial drug administration, the provider assesses and interprets both the level of anesthesia and the presence/severity of adverse side effects, both of which guide further drug titration, cessation, reversal, or medical management. This assessment is called monitoring, which guides the conduct of anesthesia delivery and becomes the essence of this art.