Levels of Fear, Anxiety and Wound Healing Among Aental Surgery Patients Under Local Versus General Anesthesia

Tooth extraction is one of the most common procedures in dentistry. Surgical extraction of damaged wisdom teeth involves bone resection and injury to the soft tissue. Dental care often evokes high levels of anxiety.In addition, stress causes poor regulation of endocrine, autocrine and paracrine systems during the three stages of wound healing of the soft oral tissues. Therefore, special considerations are necessary when performing dental surgery on highly stressed patients. One of the options used in the last decade is to perform this procedure under general anesthesia. A stress response stimulates the secretion of cortisol hormone. Cortisol levels were found to be significantly higher before dental surgery, while after the operation the hormone level dropped significantly. The aim of the study is to assess the level of anxiety/fear and monitor the wound healing process among patients who are about to undergo surgery to remove wisdom teeth or no more than 3 jaw implants under local anesthesia in the dental clinic compared to patients who are about to undergo the same surgery under general anesthesia.