Pre-Appointment

Pre-Appointment Information

Thank you for scheduling an appointment with us! We look forward to seeing you!

For many patients, there is little to do to prepare for your appointment outside of arriving to the office on time. However, there are situations in which you may need to take extra steps before your arrival.

Pre-Medicating with Antibiotics

Your health is very important to us and we want to make sure you are protected after having any joint-replacement surgery or if you have a certain type of heart condition.

Our office follows the ADA guidelines for pre-medication. However, we do require patients who have artificial joints to provide us with clearance from their orthopedic surgeon prior to receiving dental treatment in our office. 

If you have a heart condition that requires pre-medication, we will need to know your specific regimen prescribed by your cardiologist.

Providing us with a note from your orthopedist or cardiologist is the simplest way to do this!

Because so many orthopedists require their patients to premed for life, we also require clearance from your surgeon if you wish to stop using pre-medication before dental treatment.

If you are planning to have joint replacement, please discuss with your surgeon how long you must wait before resuming dental treatment after surgery, what your recommended pre-medication regimen will be, and how long you will be expected to continue with the regimen. 

Once we know the type and dosage of antibiotics required by your physician, we will send in all future pre-medication prescriptions for you.

Over-the-Counter Medication

If you are normally able to take acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Advil), or naproxen (Aleve) for pain and are not prohibited by your medical doctor from taking any of these due to a medical condition, we advise the following protocol of ibuprofen and acetaminophen for managing acute dental pain:

Ibuprofen: 200 mg**

Acetaminophen: 500 mg

Take 2 ibuprofen* and 2 acetaminophen* tablets together every 4-6 hours as needed for pain.

* Never exceed 3000 mg of acetaminophen or 2400 mg of ibuprofen in a single day.

** One 220 mg naproxen tablet can be substituted for the two ibuprofen tablets if preferred.

We recommend this regimen over opioids for acute dental pain. Researchers in a study published in JADA (Journal of the American Dental Association) found that ibuprofen in combination with acetaminophen yields better results than opioid drugs because it sufficiently relieves pain, lowers side effects, and removes the risk of dependency.