Public attitudes toward oral surgery: results of a Gallup poll

This article reports the results of a 1994 Gallup survey on public attitudes and experience regarding oral surgery.

A telephone interview was used to address three areas of concern to both dental patients and dental professionals: surgery-related anxiety, anesthesia preferences, and preoperative information or counseling needs. Of the 1,008 adult respondents, 595 (57%) had undergone oral surgery at some time, 222 (22%) within the last 5 years. Among these patients, more than one in five (22%) had suffered anxiety levels high enough to delay them from seeking prompt treatment. An additional 31% reported moderate anxiety levels, whereas 48% reported no anxiety before oral surgery.

Sixty-five percent of respondents preferred an anesthetic method that would allow them to be pain-free, but conscious, and 56% percent expressed a preference for anesthesia-induced amnesia. Virtually all respondents (98%) valued receiving pretreatment information about their oral surgery procedure and the type of anesthesia to be used. A substantial majority (90%) of respondents reported overall satisfaction with their oral surgery, rating their treatment as 3 or higher on a 6-point scale.

The characteristics patients valued most in anesthesia-wakefulness, insensibility to pain, rapid recovery, and procedure-specific amnesia-all support a growing trend toward the routine use of conscious sedation in the oral and maxillofacial surgeon's office. Patients overwhelmingly want to know all about the procedure they will have, how it will be done, and what analgesic modalities are available.