Dentistry For Medically Compromised Patients

Hi,

I am Dr. Sona Bhatia. I am a Dental Surgeon. I am going to speak on dentistry for medically compromised high-risk patients. These high-risk patients have medical conditions like they may have something like diabetes, cardiac problems, neurological problems, stroke, bleeding disorders, liver diseases.

So these patients do have some risk when they have to undergo dental treatment, so when dental treatment is done at a hospital-based dental setup it is better for them because if any emergency issues, if they arise, can be attended to address in a controlled manner much more easily and faster. This is to avoid any complications that might occur, for example, if there is a cardiac patient, who may have a tendency of bleeding like valve replacement surgeries have been done, so those procedure if there is bleeding we take support from our hospital setup like the emergency room, where the patient can be monitored and once the vitals are all okay, the patient is fine the patient can be discharged, so that the patient doesn't have to rush back with a problem if after the procedure.

The other is on the chair while doing the procedure if there is any medical emergency that arises there is a support system which is the code blue team, which is there in the hospital which comprises of the intensivist or the anesthetist, the ICU team so within two minutes the team reaches the place and takes care of the patient, takes over the problem and helps the patient to come out of that situation, this is the biggest advantage of a treatment at a hospital-based dental setup.

The patient needs dental care especially when they have a lot of medical history, the dental care for these patients is very important, compared to a normal patient they have to be more conscious and they get their dental treatment on time. Many times dental symptoms are not there, patients never realize that dental treatment is needed so like any other regular routine checkup the patients go for health check-ups or not, even dental checkup is mandatory every six months or at least once a year.

So that if there are any problems which can be detected at an early stage it can be corrected, so it avoids the patient to go through difficult treatments, the cardiac patients for example if they have valve replacement surgeries for them in fact there is a protocol that has to be followed, the antibiotic before and after the treatment is very important. So what we try to do is we try to do the treatment at a stretch and with maximum treatment to be done in less number of sittings for these patients and the antibiotic coverage or any other care that has to be taken the hospital team is there to take care of it. of course, we do need to involve the primary doctor, the primary cardiac consultant or any other consultant who is taking care of the patient, so it is actually a teamwork to take care of these cases successfully without the patient lining them into more trouble.

Thanks!