Emergency Dental Services Research Articles

Factors Associated with Accessing Prison Dental Services in Scotland: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Prisoners have poorer dental health than non-prison populations. It is known that the prison environment can promote health and thus, policies, including access to dental care, are in place to promote health during imprisonment. Aim: Our aim was to conduct an oral health and psychosocial needs survey to identify the factors associated with accessing prison dental services in Scotland. Methods: A convenience sample of offenders from a male maximum security prison, a women’s prison, and a young offenders’ institution was gathered. A questionnaire examined the demography, prison experience, dental anxiety, oral health-related quality of life, and reported attendance of dental services. A dental examination was conducted using the International Caries Detection and Assessment System to diagnose obvious decay. A hierarchical logistic regression analysis was performed. Results: 342 prisoners participated. When missing data were excluded, the final sample was 259. The regression analysis showed the following: Model 1 characterized the offenders by demography and prison experience, explaining 19% of the variance. Model 2 showed that an offender was 36% more likely to attend dental services for every unit change in the 5-point ranking scale of ‘feeling irritable with people because of teeth, mouth, or dentures’, explaining an additional 7% of the variance. Model 3 explained 35% of the variance, (i.e., an additional 9%) and was adopted as the final model to characterize offenders who access dental services when in prison. An offender who reported accessing prison dental services was 3.28 times more likely to be male. For each increase in the year of an offender’s age, the offender was 5% more likely to access prison dental services. An 11% greater chance of accessing prison dental services for every experience of remand was also found. An offender was 32% more likely to access prison dental services for each increased level of irritability, and there was a 2 times higher likelihood of emergency dental services’ attendance. There was a 19% lower chance of accessing prison dental services for each additional tooth affected by decay and a 13% greater chance of accessing prison dental services for each unit increase in missing teeth. Conclusions: In conclusion, this investigation identified factors associated with access to prison dental services in Scotland. The role of accessibility factors, such as the oral health impact of irritability, appeared to increase perceptions of dental need and promote dental services’ attendance.

Pain, Dental Fear, and Oral Health-related Quality of Life—Patients Seeking Care in an Emergency Dental Service in Germany

Pain, Dental Fear, and Oral Health-related Quality of Life—Patients Seeking Care in an Emergency Dental Service in Germany

What do people do before going to the dentist? Qualitative study of cultural practices of pain relief in primary care.

Objective: To describe and classify the main cultural practices used to relieve orodental pain in people who seek emergency dental care in vulnerable urban and rural areas of central Chile. Methodology: A sample of 88 adults residing in urban and rural sectors, who received treatment at primary care emergency dental services in three districts of the central area of Chile was studied using a qualitative descriptive approach of sociocultural epidemiological orientation based on Grounded Theory. Interviews were conducted in the waiting room of the emergency service or at the patient’s home. Empirical saturation and triangulation of temporal data were protected. Results: Practices of biomedical origin (self-medication and care received at dental emergency services) and socio-cultural practices were documented. They include the use of chemical products (iodine, phosphorus, battery acid, hydrogen peroxide, gasoline, and alcoholic drinks, among others), herbal infusions (Buddleja globosa, Aloe vera), mechanical-physical techniques (use of cold or heat, massage); subjects also perform the mechanical manipulation of the area with sharp objects, occasionally extracting the tooth itself. Practices occur more frequently at home when the person feels the pain in the affected area, and end on the dental chair with the tooth extraction. Conclusions: The coexistence of biomedical practices and alternative cultural strategies was observed. These practices complement each other and make people postpone seeking professional dental care, which may worsen their health condition.

Visits for Nontraumatic Dental Conditions in Ontario's Health Care System.

Physicians' offices and emergency departments (EDs) are not suited for addressing nontraumatic dental conditions (NTDCs); however, significant numbers of people in Canada, including Ontario, visit such settings for their dental complaints. Also, people sometimes visit hospitals for day surgery to get their complicated dental conditions treated. This reflects the inefficient usage of the health care system and gaps in accessing timely dental care. We assessed trends in the burden of NTDCs in Ontario by estimating the visits made for such conditions to physicians, EDs, and hospitals for day surgery. Aggregate data for years 2001 to 2015 were retrieved from Intellihealth Ontario. Descriptive analysis was conducted to calculate rates of visits as stratified by sex, age groups (0 to 6, 7 to 18, 19 to 64, and ≥65 y), and jurisdictions (public health unit level). On average, 70,274 visits to physicians, 51,861 to EDs, and 13,889 to hospital day surgery are made each year in Ontario for NTDCs, which costs approximately CAN$29 million. Children aged 0 to 6 y visit more than their counterparts. Statistically significant increasing trends for physician and ED visits were observed over the years. Analyses show large variations in rates of visits across public health units, with higher rates in rural communities. A large number of visits for NTDCs, with jurisdictional variations, were consistently made to nondental health care settings in Ontario over the last 15 y. Central- and local-level policy options for optimizing resources and health care system use are required. The findings of this study will provide oral and general health professionals a comprehensive understanding about the ineffective usage of a health care system for nontraumatic dental conditions. Quantifying the burden and associated dollars spent will promote crucial policy discussions to explore the possible options for providing emergency and essential dental services for all Canadians and possible equitable options to enhance access to dental care for vulnerable populations in Canadian society.

Patients Attendance for Emergency Dental Services in Mures County

In Romania dental health services are provided mainly through user pays private practices and there is a limited reimbursement of dental services from the government. The economic recession lead to substantial lack of insurance coverage for oral health care of low-income population. The aim of this six-year retrospective study was to assess the prevalence of patients requesting public dental emergency care and to determine the characteristics of dental affections for which emergency interventions were requested in Tirgu-Mures, Romania. During the analyzed period, a total number of 38610 patients were treated in the Emergency Dental Office of Mures County Emergency Hospital. Of the total number of treated emergency patients 8017 (20.76%) were children and 30593 (79.25%) were adults. Significantly more adults requested emergency care than children (p[0.0001). Out of the investigated adults 3051 (9.98%) were aged 60 years or over. The high demand for emergency dental care reflects that dental care in private practices is unaffordable to socially disadvantaged patients and also the need for community based public dental care in Tirgu-Mures.

Paediatric dental emergencies: a retrospective study and a proposal for definition and guidelines including pain management.

This was primarily to perform a retrospective analysis of 1000 emergency dental visits in order to characterize the nature of the dental emergency and the treatment provided and secondly to define a guideline for dental emergency treatment in children including pain management. A retrospective review was conducted of 1000 patients (aged 0-16years) who visited the dental emergency service of the paediatric dental clinic at the Ghent University Hospital, Belgium over a period of 3years. Data regarding age, gender, reason for visit, year of visit, consequent appointments and treatment provided were collected. Statistical analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics (frequency distribution) and Chi-square test, with significance level set as P < 0.05. The number of patients visiting with a dental emergency increased annually. Approximately half (50.2%) of all paediatric dental emergency consultations were based on pain due to caries and its consequences. More than a quartile (26.7%) of emergency patients suffered from dental trauma of either primar or permanent teeth. The majority (96.7%) of the patients reported pain, 16.3% of the patients did not necessarily need immediate attention. Dental emergencies in a university hospital based setting were predominantly related to caries and trauma. A precise definition of dental emergencies is recommended in order to prevent abuse of paediatric emergency services.

Educação permanente na reorganização do processo de trabalho no serviço de emergência

The object of study of this paper is the continuing education as a strategy to reorganize the work process in the emergency room at emergency department. The general aims of this study was to use the permanent education as a strategy to reorganize the work process in the emergency room at emergency department. The specifics aims were: to identify the difficulties faced by the staff workers of the emergency settings related to the process of guiding patients to the emergency dental service ; to describe the understanding of the staff workers about the dentist's role in na emergency service; to analyze strategies or manners of collaboration for achieving comprehensive care and; to develop products that can collaborate in continuing education of staff workers involved in patient care, according to the specific laws related to the intregrity of care. The methodology used was the the kind of research which the researcher get involved in the assistance activities while observe. The setting of the study was the emergency department of an emergency room located in Sao Goncalo, State of Rio de Janeiro city. It had three stages and the data collection instruments used were: the first stage was a participatory observation, the second stage was a semi-structured questionnaire and the third stage was na educational focal groups. In the first stage was built a forwarded flow to the dental emergency section. On the second stage, after analysis of contente according to Bardin, it was built four following classes: 1) The biomedical model still reflected on the thinking and action, evidenced on the analysis of the responses, which the employees do not understand working in a multidisciplinary team and also mentioned the biomedical model; 2) Tooth for a tooth: The Code of Hammurabi and Tiradentes, revealing that most workers assign meaning to oral dental care; 3) What am I doing here? Building the identity of the dentist. The study reveals that many of the participants do not understand the dentist's role in emergency work process and they do not respond admitting not knowing it when asked for assign a meaning outside the dental contexto.4) Building up bridges for completeness, noting that few participants understood the concepts of the continuing education and its ability to transform problems situations in their daily professional life. In the third stage, the participants were invited to educational groups, opened for dialogue, reflection and solutions, following the proposal of the problematization methodology. Theese groups discussed the legislations about emergency service, reflected on the difficulties of fulfilling the laws during work and, built up the list of procedures elected as urgent / emergency in the emergency room. In conclusion that little knowledge about the current legislation on the topic and the lack of the full understanding about continuing education can limit the process of decision making. However, the solutions found by the group were a combination and summation of gathered experiences which provided what Augustine calls wisdom of convergent care research awakening the critical thinking and politics national continuing education in health empowerment.

Educação permanente na reorganização do processo de trabalho no serviço de emergência

The object of study of this paper is the continuing education as a strategy to reorganize the work process in the emergency room at emergency department. The general aims of this study was to use the permanent education as a strategy to reorganize the work process in the emergency room at emergency department. The specifics aims were: to identify the difficulties faced by the staff workers of the emergency settings related to the process of guiding patients to the emergency dental service ; to describe the understanding of the staff workers about the dentist's role in na emergency service; to analyze strategies or manners of collaboration for achieving comprehensive care and; to develop products that can collaborate in continuing education of staff workers involved in patient care, according to the specific laws related to the intregrity of care. The methodology used was the the kind of research which the researcher get involved in the assistance activities while observe. The setting of the study was the emergency department of an emergency room located in Sao Goncalo, State of Rio de Janeiro city. It had three stages and the data collection instruments used were: the first stage was a participatory observation, the second stage was a semi-structured questionnaire and the third stage was na educational focal groups. In the first stage was built a forwarded flow to the dental emergency section. On the second stage, after analysis of contente according to Bardin, it was built four following classes: 1) The biomedical model still reflected on the thinking and action, evidenced on the analysis of the responses, which the employees do not understand working in a multidisciplinary team and also mentioned the biomedical model; 2) Tooth for a tooth: The Code of Hammurabi and Tiradentes, revealing that most workers assign meaning to oral dental care; 3) What am I doing here? Building the identity of the dentist. The study reveals that many of the participants do not understand the dentist's role in emergency work process and they do not respond admitting not knowing it when asked for assign a meaning outside the dental contexto.4) Building up bridges for completeness, noting that few participants understood the concepts of the continuing education and its ability to transform problems situations in their daily professional life. In the third stage, the participants were invited to educational groups, opened for dialogue, reflection and solutions, following the proposal of the problematization methodology. Theese groups discussed the legislations about emergency service, reflected on the difficulties of fulfilling the laws during work and, built up the list of procedures elected as urgent / emergency in the emergency room. In conclusion that little knowledge about the current legislation on the topic and the lack of the full understanding about continuing education can limit the process of decision making. However, the solutions found by the group were a combination and summation of gathered experiences which provided what Augustine calls wisdom of convergent care research awakening the critical thinking and politics national continuing education in health empowerment.

Oral Health Care in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong, as a special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China, is a metropolitan city in Asia with a population of approximately 7.4 million. This paper reflects the oral health care situation in Hong Kong. Water fluoridation was introduced in 1961 as the primary strategy for the prevention of dental caries. The fluoride level is currently 0.5 parts per million. Dental care is mainly provided by private dentists. The government’s dentists primarily serve civil servants and their dependents, with limited emergency dental service for pain relief offered to the general public. Nevertheless, the government runs the school dental care service, which provides dental treatments to primary school children through dental therapists. They also set up an oral health education unit to promote oral health in the community. Hong Kong had 2280 registered dentists in 2017, and the dentist-to-population ratio was about 1:3200. The Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Hong Kong is the only institution to provide basic and advanced dentistry training programs in Hong Kong. Dental hygienists, dental surgery assistants, dental therapists, and dental technicians receive training as paradental staff through the university or the government.

Oregon Medicaid Expenditures After the 2014 Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansion: Over-time Differences Among New, Returning, and Continuously Insured Enrollees.

There is interest in assessing health care utilization and expenditures among new Medicaid enrollees after the 2014 Medicaid expansion. Recent studies have not differentiated between newly enrolled individuals and those returning after coverage gaps. To assess health care expenditures among Medicaid enrollees in the 24 months after Oregon's 2014 Medicaid expansions and examine whether expenditure patterns were different among the newly, returning, and continuously insured (CI). Retrospective cohort study using inverse-propensity weights to adjust for differences between groups. Oregon adult Medicaid beneficiaries insured continuously from 2014 to 2015 who were either newly, returning, or CI. Monthly expenditures for inpatient care, prescription drugs, total outpatient care, and subdivisions of outpatient care: emergency department, dental, mental and behavioral health, primary care, and specialist care. After initial increases, newly and returning insured (RI) outpatient expenditures dropped below CI. Expenditures for emergency department and dental services among the RI remained higher than among the newly insured. Newly insured mental and behavioral health, primary care, and specialist expenditures plateaued higher than RI. Prescription drug expenditures increased over time for all groups, with CI highest and RI lowest. All groups had similar inpatient expenditures over 24 months post-Medicaid expansion. Our findings reveal that outpatient expenditures for new nonpregnant, non-dual-eligible Oregon Medicaid recipients stabilized over time after meeting pent-up demand, and prior insurance history affected the mix of services that individuals received. Policy evaluations should consider expenditures over at least 24 months and should account for enrollees' prior insurance histories.

Prevalence of odontogenic pain and associated factors in children treated at a pediatric dental emergency service

OBJECTIVE: To describe the prevalence and to analyze the factors associated with odontogenic pain among children at a pediatric dental emergency service.METHODS: The retrospective cross-sectional study was performed using the clinical records of children (0 to 12 years old) attended from 2003 to 2010 at the Pediatric Dentistry Emergency Service of the Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo. The information was collected by a researcher, and a structured form was used to collect all data from patients’ records. A bivariate analysis of the absolute and relative frequencies of odontogenic pain (spontaneous and induced) and associated factors (age, gender, diagnosis, treatment and referrals) was performed with the chi-square or Fisher tests (p&lt;0.05).RESULTS: Of the 574 records examined, 308 (53.7%) had reported odontogenic pain. The majority of the individuals were male (51.0%) between 4 and 8 years of age (40.9%). Odontogenic pain affected more frequently the deciduous tooth (76.9%), with induced dental pain (54.5%), diagnosed with dental caries (54.5%), which was treated with extraction (21.4%), and referred to another clinic (59.7%). The type of odontogenic pain was not associated with gender, age group or affected tissue (p&gt;0.05), but there was a higher prevalence of spontaneous pain in children with caries in a deciduous tooth with pulpal involvement, who were treated with endodontic medication and endodontic treatment (p&lt;0.05). Among children with induced pain, there was a higher prevalence of trauma and decay in deciduous and permanent teeth without pulpal involvement, and they received temporary restoration and were referred to the trauma project (p&lt;0.05).CONCLUSION: There was higher prevalence of odontogenic pain in children between 4-8 years of age, with deciduous dentition and dental caries. The type of odontogenic pain was associated with diagnosis, treatment and referral, but was not associated with gender and age.

Factors Affecting Access to Oral Health Care among Adults in Abha City, Saudi Arabia.

Aims and Objectives:To investigate the self-reported access problems to dental care among adults in Abha city, KSA.Materials and Methods:A cross-sectional descriptive survey was carried out among adults in Abha city, Saudi Arabia. A structured, close-ended, self-administered questionnaire elicited the access and utilization of dental care among a sample of adults. Data were collected and analyzed using SPSS version 21.0 statistical software. The descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were performed to predict the variables associated with access and utilization of dental care.Results:A total of 499 adults (male = 270, female = 229) participated in the study. More than half (289, 57.9%) of the participants utilized dental services and emergency services (283, 56.7%) were the most common reason to visit dentist. For most of the participants (281, 57.1%), the last dental visit was less than 1 year. Majority (409, 82%) of the participants self-funded for their treatment in private dental clinics (382, 76.6%). More than half (258, 51.7%) of the participants received restorative treatment during their last visit to dentist. Cost (39.1%) and lack of time (28.7%) were the main barriers to accessing dental care. Education and income were all involved in predicting nonutilization of dental services among the study participants.Conclusion:Access to and utilization of dental care are the multidimensional concepts influenced by many factors. Cost and lack of time were the predominant barriers to utilization of dental services. Access to dental care is a multidimensional issue with education and income, were considered as the significant predictors of nonutilization of dental services. Similarly, income and transportation problems significantly predicted the use of private dental services. Marital status, transportation problem, health problems, and difficulty in movement were all concerned with multiple barriers to accessing dental services among the study participants.

Analgesia (mis)usage on a dental emergency service: a patient survey.

Analgesics are one of the most frequently used medicines. Self-medication and misuse have been described in the literature. The purpose of this study was to document analgesic (mis)use in a population seeking emergency dental treatment. Patients consulting a dental emergency service were randomly asked to complete a questionnaire on analgesic use, knowledge and information on the analgesics and on their pain history. A photobook was used as an aid to identify products used. Descriptive statistics were combined with chi-square and Mann-Whitney U testing. Ninety-eight patients were included. Acetaminophen (69.4%) and ibuprofen (65.3%) were the most frequently used products. Nearly half of the subjects (43.9%) combined at least two analgesics. Although 42.9% of subjects were aware of the maximum daily dose, 62.2% of the subjects exceeded this limit, specifically 76.6% of subjects using ibuprofen and 32.4% of subjects using acetaminophen overdosing. Females overdosed significantly more than males. Ingestion on medical advice did not affect the overdose rates significantly. No significant relation was found between the absence of knowledge on the maximum daily dose and actual overdosing. No higher pain reduction was found in patients overdosing analgesics. The average number of days patients experienced pain before consulting the emergency unit was 12. A significant relation was found between the lag time and overdosing. A large portion of the patients overdosed analgesics. Even prior medical advice did not reduce significantly overdose rates. Dentists treating emergency cases clearly need to be aware of the high risk and high rates of overdosing analgesics in their patients.

Dental emergencies in public health services: what is the role of the Dental Surgeon?

OBJECTIVE: To assess the opinions of Brazilian dental surgeons (DS) about their roles in Public Emergency Dental Services (PEDS).METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted with an intentional sample of 44 DS who worked at the PEDS in a large municipality in the central-western region of Brazil, in 2013. To collect data we designed, pretested and applied a self-administered questionnaire with Likert scale assertions about the DS duties, referral of patients and execution of dental procedures in PEDS. Post-hoc tests revealed an instrument’s reliability of 91%.RESULTS: As their main duty, DS pointed out providing relief to patients’ complaints in cases of dental pain and trauma. Regarding referral of patients, they considered typically that they should refer to services at a higher complexity level those patients exhibiting infections in advanced stages under risk of disseminations. Most of them disagreed with performing dental restorations in emergency consultations, while the majority stated that they should mainly perform intraoral abscesses drainage, alveolitis and haemorrhage treatment.CONCLUSION: To provide pain and trauma relief to patients was pointed out by DS as their key role in PEDS, as well as to refer at-risk patients to high-level complexity services and to perform procedures aimed at solving emergency situations, instead of providing restorative treatment to patients.

Prevalence of infection dissemination from odontogenic origin to the bucomaxilofacial complex

Objective: To establish the prevalence of infectious dissemination of odontogenic origin of the maxillofacial complex in patients attending for emergency consultation and outpatien service of a second level hospital in the city of Cali.&#x0D; Materials and methods: We reviewed 142 medical records of adult patients of any gender and ethnicity, with diagnostic impression of periapical abscess with and without fistula, periodontal abscess, pericoronitis, cellulitis and mouth and face abscesses that had disseminations to maxilla and mandible, who attended the emergency dental service and the outpatient service of a level II hospital in Cali in 2009.&#x0D; Results: One hundred and twenty four of 695 patients who attended the service of dentistry presented any infection of odontogenic origin, equivalent to the 17.8%. The most frequent diagnostics were acute periocoronitis, cellulitis and abscess.&#x0D; Discussion: The dentist must know the prevalence of these infections and the risks of occurrence of a more complicated condition as a mediastinitis by spread from the dental infection, with a high rate of mortality. Infections such as these can put at risk the life of the patient which leads to hospitalization.&#x0D; Conclusions: The anatomical area with greater commitment was the lower maxillary infection spread from the lower molars and premolars. It is important to recommend further promotion and prevention education strategy directed to dentists and vulnerable population, to explain the risks associated with an oral infection and the importance of early treatment and the possibility of generating resistance to antibiotics.

Trends in emergency department visits for non-traumatic dental conditions in Ontario from 2006 to 2014.

In Canada, non-traumatic dental conditions (NTDCs) presenting in emergency departments (EDs) are dealt with by non-dental professionals who are generally not equipped to deal with such emergencies, resulting in an inefficient usage of heath care resources. This study aimed to assess the burden of ED visits for NTDCs in Ontario by observing trends from 2006 to 2014. Aggregate data for Ontario were obtained from the Canadian Institute for Health Information's National Ambulatory Care Reporting System. Data were examined for the whole of Ontario and stratified by 14 Local Health Integration Networks. Descriptive analysis was conducted for both number of people and number of visits, stratified by sex and age groups (0-5, 6-18, 19-64, and 65+ years). Numbers were also examined by neighbourhood stratifications, including urban/rural, income quintile and immigrant tercile. Over the study period, an upward trend of visiting EDs for NTDCs was observed. Approximately 403 628 people in Ontario made 482 565 visits over the period of nine years. On average, 341 per 100 000 people, per year, visited. Young children, people living in neighbourhoods with lower income and higher immigrant concentration, and people living in the rural regions, visited EDs more for NTDCs during 2006-2014. The upward and inequitable trends of utilization of EDs for NTDCs reinforce recognition of the important need for both universal and targeted approaches for primary prevention of dental conditions. To enhance equitable access to dental care, policy advocacy is required for publicly funding essential and emergency dental services for all.

Adequacy and clarity of information on out-of-hours emergency dental services at Greater Manchester NHS dental practices: a cross-sectional study.

Objective To perform an evaluation of the information given to patients seeking emergency dental services during out-of-hours periods in Greater Manchester.Method This is a cross-sectional study. A list of all NHS dental practices in Greater Manchester was obtained from the NHS website. The investigators then accessed websites and voicemails of all practices to assess the information given to patients.Results The study shows that most practices have voicemail, which includes varying information on how to access emergency dental services during out-of-hours periods. Few of those included advice on the management of common dental emergencies. On the other hand, the majority of practices did not have websites. From those who included advice on how to access emergency dental services during out-of-hours periods on how to manage common dental emergencies on their websites, the information was easy to find.Conclusion The current information could be improved by ensuring the inclusion of essential details. Websites would help by including more details. In turn, this could help to reduce the number of inappropriate presentations to A&E departments.

Determinants of Demand in the Public Dental Emergency Service.

Although dental emergencies are primarily aimed at pain relief, in practice, dental emergency services have been overwhelmed by the massive inflow of patients with less complex cases, which could be resolved at basic levels of health care. They frequently become the main gateway to the system. We investigated the determinant factors of demand at the Central Dental Emergency Unit in Bauru, São Paulo, Brazil. The questionnaire was applied to 521 users to evaluate sociodemographic profile; factors that led users to seek the service at the central dental emergency; perception of service offered. About 80.4% of users went directly to the central dental emergency, even before seeking basic health units. The reasons were difficulty to be attended (34.6%) and incompatible time (9.8%). To the perception of the necessity of the service, responses were problem as urgent (78.3%) and pain was the main complaint (69.1%). The profile we found was unmarried (41.5%), male (52.2%), white (62.8%), aged 30 to 59 (52.2%), incomplete basic education (41.6%), family income up to 2 minimum wages (47.4%), and no medical/dental plan (88.9%). It was concluded that the users of central dental emergency come from all sectors of the city, due to difficult access to basic health units; they consider their complaint urgent; and they are satisfied with the service offered. To meet the profile of the user urgency's service so that it is not overloaded with demand that can be fulfilled in basic health units.

Retrospective Analysis of Patients admitted to Emergency Dental Clinic of a Secondary Care Public Hospital in Turkey

ABSTRACT Background This study aims to evaluate dental emergency visits in a public hospital as the number of dental emergency visits has recently increased. Materials and methods This was a retrospective observational study. This study was approved by the local ethical committee and data were recorded from the dental emergency service record book between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2013. Results In total, 1,477 (4.01%) patients were admitted to emergency dentist services. Mean age was 24.59 ± 11.07 (min–max: 2–76) and 978 (66.2%) patients were between 19 and 35 years old. The most common diagnosis was pulpitis or periapical abscess (n = 1033, 69.9%) and the most common practice was the prescription of antibiotics and/or analgesics (n = 885, 59.9%). Conclusion The latest increase in the number of dental emergency visits is a burden, and emergency physicians must be capable of differentiating the real emergencies from common uncomplicated complaints. How to cite this article Agmaz O, Acar YA, Cevik E, Uyguner C, Oral BE, Bal C. Retrospective Analysis of Patients admitted to Emergency Dental Clinic of a Secondary Care Public Hospital in Turkey. Int J Experiment Dent Sci 2017;6(1):14-16.

Epidemiological data and relevance of care provided in dental emergency service of a private hospital

The aims of this study were to determine the etiology and prevalence of dental emergency visits in a private hospital in the period from July 2009 to July 2011 and the importance of this type of service in private hospitals. Material and methods: During the study period, we analyzed 795 charts from patients seeking emergency services. The emergencies were classified as trauma, odontalgia, prosthesis, periodontal diseases, and traumatic factors. Results: Women and men accounted for 61% and 39% of cases, respectively, and the most prevalent age group was individuals aged 20 to 49 years. The predominant types of dental emergencies observed were odontalgia (52.58%) and dental trauma (22.64%). Pulpitis was the most common pathology (67% of cases) and the most frequent type of trauma was enamel and dentin fracture (54% of cases). Conclusion: A high demand for dental emergency care exists in hospital settings. Most people seek emergency dental services for emergencies related to lack of prevention and dental traumas.