THE INFLUENCE OF SURGICAL STRESS, ANXIETY AND BENZODIAZEPINE INTRAVENOUS SEDATION ON RECALL OF ORAL-SURGERY

This study, part of a larger investigation of the efficacy and safety of intravenous sedation in dentistry, reports the prevalance of failur e to recall information during third molar impaction surgery and attem pts to differentate the effects of stress and benzodiazepines on recal l. Both recognition of neutral pictures and the recall of surgical pro cedures were assessed. Recall failure in the drug groups ranged from z ero for recall of stressful procedures, completed before drug titratio n, to 92 percent of subjects for recognition of the neutral picture pr esented at 5 minutes after the surgical procedure began. Placebo condi tion subjects had almost no recall loss. Recall failure was demonstrat ed to be primarily a function of the volume of midazolam employed. How ever, operative stress and trait and state anxiety explained some of t he findings.