The Nature and Frequency of Medical Emergencies Among Patients in a Dental School Setting

Abstract

As health care improves and life expectancy increases, dentists and dental students are treating a growing number of elderly and medically compromised patients, increasing the likelihood of a medical emergency during treatment. Previous studies examining emergencies in a dental setting have relied upon self-reports and are therefore subject to biases in reporting. The purpose of this study was to examine data generated from documentation of CODE-5 medical emergency events at the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine over an eight-and-a-half-year period. The incidence of emergencies was found to be 164 events per million patient visits, which is lower than reported in previous studies. Most emergencies involved suspected cardiovascular events, syncope, complications related to local anesthesia, and hypoglycemia. Twenty percent of emergencies involved people who were in the building for reasons other than to receive dental care, underscoring the need for an operational CODE-5 system whenever a building is occupied. We suggest strategies to reduce the incidence of medical emergencies and increase ability to manage those that do occur.

Medical Risk Assessment in Patients Referred to Dental Clinics, Mashhad, Iran (2011-2012)

“…One essential aspect of the dentist's responsibility is to assess the medical history of patients before any treatment. Studies have shown that about half of the patients referred to dental schools had at least one medical complication [ 11 , 12 ]. However, many dental practitioners assume that their patients are systemically healthy, with the expected result that medical history is often overlooked.…”

Medical emergencies encountered in dental clinics: A study from the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia

“…[ 3 ] Patients with medical conditions are more likely to experience emergency situations during dental treatment. [ 4 ] It was observed that approximately 35% of patients who experienced emergency situations had some systemic disease, and cardiovascular disease accounted for 33% of such episodes. Medical emergencies most commonly occur during and after the administration of the local anesthetic agent.…”

Basic life support knowledge and skills of Iranian general dental practitioners to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation

“…Although, the prevalence of medical emergencies in a dental office is uncommon, but emergency situations may happen for patient, dentist, and staffs or even for the patient's attendant or attendants. 1 In a study in Germany, 57% of participant dentists stated that at least, there were three medical emergencies in their dental offices during a year. 2 On the other hand, some diseases and their treatments increase the risk of medical emergencies, so the dentists should be able to diagnose and manage these emergency conditions.…”