Establishing a practice of dental staff management of all patients’ oral cavities before surgery under general anesthesia and its potential to reduce postoperative complications

Abstract

【Background】Since April 2016, Kyorin University Hospital dental staff have checked the oral condition of all patients who underwent surgery under general anesthesia. Therefore, in this study, the authors’ aim was to determine whether an oral management intervention system, mainly characterized by oral mucosa stimulation contributed to a reduction in postoperative complications.【Methods】The authors performed a retrospective analysis of medical records of patients who underwent surgery from April 2014 to March 2018 at Kyorin University Hospital. They divided the patients in the study into 2 groups: an oral management intervention group which underwent surgery from April 2016 to March 2018 and was provided with guidance by dental staff before surgery, and a control group, without oral management direction, which underwent surgery from April 2014 to March 2016. In addition, our oral management procedure emphasized oral mucosa stimulation with a toothbrush to induce saliva discharge and assess presence or absence of mobile tooth, dryness of the mouth, and status of oral hygiene.【Results】This study demonstrated that our oral management system and practice were associated with a decline in the post-operative complications in lung surgery, and postoperative hospital stay duration in surgery of many clinical departments.【Conclusion】Our hospital recommends assessment all patients’ oral cavities before surgery under general anesthesia and proposes an innovative new strategy using our unique oral management procedure to reduce postoperative complications in the cases of many clinical departments.