Key Points
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98% of practitioners in this survey had undergone training in the measurement of blood pressure.
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GDPs do not want to be involved in screening for hypertension.
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Most practitioners are keen on professional education about hypertension.
Abstract
Objective To survey the attitudes, knowledge and practice of general dental practitioners (GDPs) with regard to hypertension in dental patients and to assess opinion with regard to the concept of screening.
Setting General dental practice.
Subjects and Methods GDPs via a postal survey. To achieve an acceptable level of accuracy, at least 196 responses were required.
Results Out of 300 questionnaires, 207 were returned (69% response rate). Most practitioners (98%) had received training in the measurement of blood pressure. Only 4.8% measured blood pressure routinely and this figure rose to 9.2% in patients with a known history of hypertension. Only 27.1% felt that the involvement of dentists in screening for hypertension was a good idea but 85.3% thought that education of practitioners about hypertension would be valuable.
Conclusion Most GDPs thought that education of practitioners about hypertension was a good idea. They did not, however, want to be involved with screening of patients for hypertension.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Dr Nick Steen of the Centre for Health Services Research, University of Newcastle for his statistical advice and the practitioners who took the time to complete the questionnaires.
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Greenwood, M., Lowry, R. Blood pressure measuring equipment in the dental surgery: use or ornament?. Br Dent J 193, 273–275 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.4801544
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.4801544
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