Dental emergency: Scoping review

Abstract

Part of the oral health care in the care network encompasses users in emergency cases. This study proposed mapping the determinants of the use of dental care services within the health care network to address dental emergencies within the Brazilian Unified Health System (UHS) and to verify the main gaps in the research in this area. This is a scoping review that took place in 2018 using Andersen's behavioral model as a reference. A total of 16 studies, out of 3786 original articles identified, were included and reviewed. Two reviewers independently conducted the selection process and the decision was consensually made. The mapping of the determinants revealed a greater number of enabling factors and a larger gap in the results. Greater use of the emergency service was registered by people in pain, women, adults, those from an urban area, people with a lower income, and those with less education. In future studies, primary surveys are recommended, which include all ages, and analyze different groups of needs and users that take into account the country's northern region and the different subjects pointed out by this review.

Occurrence of dental emergency events in Primary Health Care services

“…The results suggest barriers for adults to use the services in non-emergency cases, and the more frequent use of emergency dentistry by adults was supported by results from a scoping review. 21 For the old-adults, frequency was higher than expected in both conditions of entry to the services. Age results should consider that dental caries has an important place in dental emergencies, therefore the chronic condition, accumulation and progressive worsening, were well represented in the high frequency of E cases in adults and the old-adults.…”

Effectiveness of and Patient’s Satisfaction with Dental Emergency Unit in Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital (Paris), Focusing on Pain and Anxiety

“…There are relatively few cohort studies related to dental emergencies which overall tend to indicate that patients attending emergency departments are rather young and male with low socio-medico-economic status [ 5 , 7 , 31 , 33 , 42 , 43 , 56 , 66 – 70 ], therefore consulting dentists less regularly than general population. DEU is often considered as an alternative to regular follow-up for patients with low access to dental care.…”

“…Pain was the main reason for consultation in 91% of the sample, being associated with swelling in 16% or trauma in 2%, which is in the upper range of emergency studies [39%–88%] [ 31 , 42 , 43 , 56 , 68 , 76 – 78 ]. Pain was mainly of infectious origin (75.7%) including 54.5% pulpal pain (PR, PIR, PAA, AAP), 11.8% periodontal/mucosal pain (septum syndrome, periodontal abcess, pericoronitis), and 9.4% cellulitis regardless of its origin.…”

“…There are however few studies devoted to the effectiveness of and satisfaction with emergency settings related to pain and anxiety [ 31 , 43 , 54 – 57 ]. The aim of this study was therefore to assess, using a prospective study, the effectiveness of the care provided in this emergency unit in terms of pain and anxiety, as well as measuring satisfaction, reflecting the patient experience.…”

Caries-related hospital morbidity in the Brazilian Unified Health System from 2008 to 2022

“…17 Nonetheless, there is a need to continue improving oral health care in SUS, especially in terms of providing comprehensive care and increasing access of vulnerable populations to oral health services at all levels. 17,18 Additionally, it is known that SUS users may experience difficulties in accessing emergency dental care within healthcare networks 19 and untreated DC remains a relevant problem in the country. 20 Therefore, another reasonable issue is the extent of caries-related hospital morbidity experienced within SUS: is there a high number of caries-related hospital admissions and in-hospital dental procedures (IDP)?…”