Abstract
The complete preoperative evaluation of the oral and maxillofacial surgery patient must include an assessment of surgical risk. We must identify factors that place an individual at greater risk than the normal, healthy patient population and then try to maximize the patient's condition in the perioperative period. The predictive value for most risk factors is not known, and the benefits of correction or improvement of those factors are also unknown. We must rely on our experience, intuition, and knowledge of the physiologic stresses of the planned procedure to make some estimation of the patient's probability of surviving our intervention without complication. The natural history of the disease and the therapeutic benefit of the intervention must be weighed against our estimation of risk. All decisions in the care of the surgical patient must be based on this risk-to-benefit ratio.
In the following articles, the evaluation of the patient is discussed from both systemic and global perspectives. The cumulative goal of this work is the optimal perioperative care of the oral and maxillofacial surgery patient.