Medical emergencies in general dental practice are uncommon but they do occur

Key Points

In brief

• Medical emergency events are uncommon in general dental practice and serious events are very rare, however they do occur.

• Two-thirds of respondents reported at least one emergency event. It is advisable to be prepared for the unexpected.

• There is a continued downward trend in the number of dentists providing treatment under general anaesthesia.

Abstract

Objective To assess the prevalence, nature and outcome of medical emergencies experienced by general dental practitioners (GDPs) over a 10-year period.

Design Postal questionnaire survey of a random sample of GDPs in Great Britain.

Subjects 1500 GDPs, 1000 in England & Wales and 500 in Scotland.

Results There was a 74% response. Emergency events were reported by 70.2%: the number reported by a single individual ranged from none to 33. The most commonly experienced events, including those associated with general anaesthesia, were (as a percentage of the total) for England & Wales and Scotland, respectively: fits and seizures (31.0%, 36.3%); swallowed foreign bodies (15.7%, 18.1%); attacks of asthma (13.8%, 11.1%); chest pain associated with angina pectoris (10.1%, 11.0%) and diabetic events (10.6%, 9.0%): none of these resulted in any serious sequelae. More events were reported in Scotland. Overall, there were 20 deaths resulting from medical emergencies reported in the survey, 4 affecting passers-by and none associated with general anaesthesia. 8849 years of practice experience were represented (by 94% of respondents), from which an estimate of the frequency of events was made.

Conclusions An emergency event was reported, on average, for every 4.5 practice years in England & Wales and 3.6 years in Scotland and death associated with general dental practice, on average, once in 758 and 464 years, respectively.

Log in or create a free account to read this content

Gain free access to this article, as well as selected content from this journal and more on nature.com

Access through your institution

or

Sign in or create an account

Continue with Google

Continue with ORCiD