Medical emergency at the dental office

Abstract

Although medical emergencies in the dental office are rare, they can pose significant risks to patients’ lives. The present work was designed in order to provide a prevention protocol, early diagnosis and initial interventions to guarantee patient safety and minimize serious adverse events. For this purpose, a qualitative, descriptive and exploratory approach was used, carried out through bibliographic analysis of primary sources related to the topic. The results identified the inadequacies of the theoretical and practical training of dentists to address medical emergencies. In particular, the authors note that professionals in the field lack skills in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and basic life support. Additionally, not all offices have the equipment or medications necessary to provide first aid. For example, most dentists today do not have defibrillators or emergency medications in their offices. Under these conditions, it would be appropriate to propose a formal protocol that includes preventive measures, risk identification, continuous training and provision of resources. Therefore, it can be assumed that the regular use of the proposed programs, together with other measures for practical training, will improve the response capacity of professionals to emergencies and reduce the morbidity of incidents. Before concluding, it is necessary to point out the need for future research related to the evaluation of training programs and the requested economic analyzes to ensure that the proposed interventions are sustainable.