LOS ANGELES, CA – Yesterday, in a remarkable feat of interdisciplinary work, Mike Fellers, DDS alerted his anesthesia colleague to low blood pressures.
“It occurred right after anesthesia intubated the patient. I was prepping the patient for an extraction of the left second pre-molar due to an apical tooth abscess (translation: pulling an infected tooth) when I heard the alarm go off. I looked and saw the patient’s BP was 90/60. I immediately instructed anesthesia to go ahead and give pressors.”
“It was a great catch,” confirmed third-year dental student Hailey Studemont who witnessed the event. “I guess this is what it takes to be an oral & maxillofacial surgeon, you need to know what to do when the going gets tough. I would not have known what to do in that situation.”
Operating room (OR) staff reported that after hearing Fellers orders to “give pressors,” anesthesiologist Dan Montrose, M.D. sighed and pressed the monitor silence button. He was unavailable for comment because at press time, he was prepping a patient scheduled for a mitral valve replacement under cardiopulmonary bypass.
“It takes a team to care for these patients,” concluded Fellers. “You can’t give all the credit to the surgeon.”
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