University Archives

Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) programs are structured, multidisciplinary, evidence-based perioperative pathways designed to minimize surgical stress and accelerate recovery. ERAS has been widely implemented in major hospital-based surgical procedures, coordinating pre, intra, and postoperative measures and consistently improving postoperative outcomes. In oral and maxillofacial surgery, particularly inpatient care, current evidence indicates that structured perioperative pathways can significantly reduce postoperative pain, opioid requirements, complication rates, and hospital length of stay. These protocols are grounded in principles of maintaining homeostasis and attenuating surgical stress through preoperative optimization, standardized anesthetic and analgesic strategies, and early postoperative mobilization and nutrition.

Although most available data derive from complex inpatient surgeries, including maxillofacial trauma, cleft lip and palate, oncologic, and orthognathic procedures, the biological and clinical mechanisms targeted by ERAS protocols are equally applicable to outpatient interventions. They are performed in dental office settings, consisting of third molar surgery, implant placement, bone grafting, and alveolar reconstructive procedures.

This review underscores the potential of ERAS concepts beyond the hospital setting, linking the principles applied to inpatients with their use in dental office patients. This outlines future perspectives for developing specific protocols for surgical procedures performed in dental facilities.