Emergências médicas em medicina dentária: prevalência e experiência dos médicos dentistas

Abstract

Medical emergencies in dental practice are generally perceived as being rare but when an emergency does occur it can be life-threatening. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of emergencies in dental practices and their training experience. An anonymous questionnaire survey was submitted by phone call to the 240 clinics and hospitals from Oporto city listed in the Health Control Institution during 6 months. The most frequently reported emergency was syncope, hypoglycemia, asthma, hypertensive crisis, epileptic fit and anaphylaxis. Most of dentists felt competent to treat syncope however 90% felt unable to manage a cardiac arrest. Medical emergencies are not rare in dental practice, although most of them are not life- threatening. Future postgraduate training in emergency care for dentists needs to be more accurately targeted to the known prevalence of emergencies and deficiencies in dentist́s emergency skills.