Frequency and characteristics of medical emergencies in an Australian dental school: A retrospective study

Abstract

Purpose/Objectives: The frequency of medical emergencies in a dental setting is relatively low. However, most dental treatment occurs outside of a hospital setting; thus the time to respond to a life-threatening situation is crucial. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency and characteristics of medical emergencies that occurred at the Griffith University Dental Clinic over a 6-year period.Methods: Data involving medical emergencies was collected at a dental school between January 2014 and December 2019. Data was obtained from the risk incident reporting system (GSafe), and descriptive statistics were analyzed using IBM SPSS. Results: The frequency of medical emergencies in a dental setting over the 6-year retrospective period based on the number of dental services provided was 0.037% (n = 108). The three most common medical emergencies were syncope (25.0%), hypoglycemia (16.7%), and foreign body ingestion (13.9%). These happened more often during dental extractions (26.9%), followed by local anesthesia (16.7%) and restorative procedures (13.0%). A larger portion of these incidents occurred during dental treatment (62.0%) as opposed to before (12.0%) or after (26.0%). Most medical emergencies happened within the dental student clinic (72.2%) followed by the dental waiting room (19.5%) and dental private clinic (8.3%). Conclusion:Overall, the number of medical emergencies at the Griffith University Dental Clinic was low. The most common medical emergencies were syncope, hypoglycemia, and foreign body ingestion. Dental education in preventative strategies and training in basic life support is necessary to ensure dental practitioners can manage the acute deterioration of a patient promptly.

Frequency and features of medical emergencies at a teaching dental hospital in Saudi Arabia: a 14-year retrospective observational study

“…Retrospective practitioner surveys [ 3 , 22 , 23 ], and clinical records-based studies [ 4 , 5 ] indicate that some medical emergencies are more common than others in a dental office: vasovagal syncope and hypoglycemia consistently figured among the top causes of medical emergency events in the majority of these studies; allergies, postural hypotension, dehydration, hyperventilation, and foreign body ingestion were also commonly reported in these studies, albeit less commonly than syncope and hypoglycemia. However, a study from the United States with a relatively older patient population reported hypertensive crisis as the most frequent emergency [ 13 ].…”

“…In a retrospective study from a Japanese university dental hospital, the incidence of medical emergencies was 3.7 per 100,000 patients visiting the dental outpatient department [ 4 ]. In another retrospective study from an Australian dental school, the reported incidence of medical emergencies in dental clinics was 37 per 100,000 outpatients [ 5 ]. However, the incidence of medical emergency events in dental offices of academic dental institutions of the Middle Eastern countries remains unreported.…”

“…However, in this context, most studies reported in the literature are survey-based [ 6 – 9 ]; only seven retrospective studies were found, that used patient databases and/or patient records and involved dental teaching hospitals or dental school settings [ 4 , 5 , 10 – 14 ]. None of these seven retrospective studies were from the Middle East; one study each was reported from Japan [ 4 ], the United Kingdom [ 12 ], and Australia [ 5 ]; four studies were from the United States [ 10 , 11 , 13 ].…”

“…However, in this context, most studies reported in the literature are survey-based [ 6 – 9 ]; only seven retrospective studies were found, that used patient databases and/or patient records and involved dental teaching hospitals or dental school settings [ 4 , 5 , 10 – 14 ]. None of these seven retrospective studies were from the Middle East; one study each was reported from Japan [ 4 ], the United Kingdom [ 12 ], and Australia [ 5 ]; four studies were from the United States [ 10 , 11 , 13 ]. Except for the studies by Kim et al ( n = 586, study duration = 10 years) [ 13 ] and D’Innocenzo et al ( n = 250, study duration = 12 years) [ 14 ], most other studies had a study duration of less than 10 years and a relatively small sample size, with some of them reporting emergency incidents in double digits only.…”

Medical profile of patients referred to an Australian postgraduate oral surgery clinic

“…about by the inherent stresses of oral surgery procedures (Zachar & Reher, 2022). Hence, detailed knowledge of a patient's medical history can be considered a form of risk management in itself (Patel et al, 2014).…”