The influence of surgical stress, anxiety and benzodiazepine intravenous sedation on recall of oral surgery

Abstract

This study, part of a larger investigation of the efficacy and safety of intravenous sedation in dentistry, reports the prevalance of failure to recall information during third molar impaction surgery and attempts to differentate the effects of stress and benzodiazepines on recall. Both recognition of neutral pictures and the recall of surgical procedures were assessed. Recall failure in the drug groups ranged from zero for recall of stressful procedures, completed before drug titration, to 92 percent of subjects for recognition of the neutral picture presented at 5 minutes after the surgical procedure began. Placebo condition subjects had almost no recall loss. Recall failure was demonstrated to be primarily a function of the volume of midazolam employed. However, operative stress and trait and state anxiety explained some of the findings.

Key Words:

• Dental-anxiety
• benzodiazepines
• memory
• intravenous sedation
• oral surgery.