21 Questions to Ask Your Surgeon or Before Oral Surgery
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Millions of Americans have surgery every year (estimates range anywhere from 23 million to 60 million procedures per year!) and must put their health into the hands of their surgeon. Fortunately, most surgeries are elective, or at least not immediate, which means you have time to do your homework and choose a surgeon that you feel comfortable with.

It's your body, after all, and you must take the time to learn about your surgeon and the procedure that's going to be done. You wouldn't simply buy a car or a house without first looking into it, would you? Nor should you go blindly into any health care procedure.

Moreover, studies have found that well-informed patients heal faster and report having a better surgical experience than those who are not, according to the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

So take your time "interviewing" your surgeon with the following top questions so you feel certain that the procedure and the surgeon are right for you.

1. How will the surgery be performed? (Ask him or her to draw you a diagram, if you like.)

2. Is there more than one way of performing the procedure?

3. Are there alternatives to the surgical procedure?

4. What are the benefits of the surgery?

5. What are the risks of the surgery?

6. If I opt NOT to have the procedure, what are the risks/benefits?

7. What is the expected outcome of the surgery?

8. How many of these (or similar) surgeries have you performed each year and for how many years? (A good indicator of experience and ability)

9. What kind of anesthesia will be used? (And what are the risks/benefits of it? Do costs go up if complecations occur?)

10. Will I meet with an anesthesiologist before surgery?

11. Will my heart rate and breathing be monitored during the surgery (and is anything else monitored)?

12. At which hospital will the surgery be performed?

13. How often is this procedure performed at that hospital, and what is the success rate? (Studies show that patients do better in hospitals that have experience with the procedure.)

14. Is there a 24-hour recovery room in the hospital (or, where will I recover in the hospital and what are the physical requirements of being released)?

15. What are the qualifications of the staff in the recovery room?

16. How long will I be in the hospital? Once home how soon am I able to return to work without impairments or distracting disfigurements?

17. What are my options for pain control after the surgery?

18. How long will it take me to recover and what to expect for full recover, rehab, etc.?

19. What will the procedure cost, what portions are and are not covered by my insurance?

20. What about a second opinion? (Getting a second opinion is fairly common before an elective surgical procedure is performed.) What qualifications of a doctor are nessissary and important?

21. Will you please mark the location of the surgery on my body ahead of time? (This helps to ensure that the wrong site is not operated on, which does, fairly rarely, sometimes happen.)

We recommend you who can benefit from it, and print it out and save it for your own possible future reference.

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Sources

Glossary | Agency for Health Care Research and Quality

Preventable deaths: who, how often, and why? | PSNet

The pain of wrong site surgery. | PSNet

Medical error—the third leading cause of death in the US. | PSNet

Reporting of death in US Food and Drug Administration medical device adverse event reports in categories other than death. | PSNet

Sharing lessons learned to prevent incorrect surgery. | PSNet

Hospital deaths in patients with sepsis from 2 independent cohorts. | PSNet

Defining technical errors in laparoscopic surgery: a systematic review. | PSNet

Planning Ahead for Outpatient Surgery: Key to Safe, Successful Outcome

Patients Can Make Surgery Safer: Physician Anesthesiologists Explain How

Medicare Part D Beneficiaries at Serious Risk of Opioid Misuse or Overdose: A Closer Look. | PSNet