- Dental emergencies can arise quickly.Dentist at work in dental room image by Vladimir Melnik from Fotolia.com
Medical emergencies that happen in the dentist's office usually happen during or after local anesthesia has been administered and mostly during tooth extraction and endodontics, which deals with the tooth pulp and the tissues surrounding its root. More than 60% of dental office emergencies are syncope, otherwise known as fainting, and about 7% involve hyperventilation. Dentists must have the necessary emergency supplies on hand to meet and manage these medical emergencies.
. - Certain drugs should be part of a dentist's emergency supplies; oxygen tops this list. Oxygen can be used for every emergency except hyperventilation. Epinephrine, indicated for use in case of heart attack, can be given intramuscularly in the dentist's office since intravenous access might not be available. Nitroglycerin is another must-have drug for dentists; it also can be used in the form of a tablet under the tongue in case of heart attack.
- Dentists must keep emergency kits on hand in case of a patient, staff or visitor crisis, but also in the event of a natural or man-made disaster. The kit should include sterile adhesive bandages in different sizes, safety pins, soap, latex gloves, gauze pads, roller bandages, tweezers, scissors, suture, paper towels, thermometer, petroleum jelly, antiseptic and tongue blades. A battery-operated radio and a flashlight are also good to have on hand in case of a power outage.
- Several over-the-counter drugs and medicines are good to have in your first aid kit, such as aspirin or non-aspirin pain reliever, anti-diarrhea medicine, laxative, antacid, syrup of ipecac (to induce vomiting) and activated charcoal, which is used to absorb ingested poisons. The Red Cross will provide a basic first aid manual to anyone who requests one; the manual outlines first aid procedures and where to go for help.
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