Handling medical emergencies
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Date
2015
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
South African Dental Association
Abstract
Medical emergencies can occur at any time in the dental
surgery. Routine dental operations and procedures that generally
cause no harm or distress to fit and normal patients
may give rise to symptoms, alarming and of sudden onset,
in patients suffering from some non - obvious ailment. Some
of these patients may be receiving medical treatment, and
the medical emergency may arise from the disease itself, or
as a direct result of the treatment they are receiving. While
there will inevitably be some degree of ambiguity with what
constitutes an emergency, emergency care is care without
which the patient will or may be subject to serious harm,
including professional harm. Dental emergencies cannot be
isolated from medical emergencies. An abscess, for example,
can evolve into a potentially life-threatening situation. For
a dentist to ignore any or all foreseeable consequences of
inaction is unprofessional and could well lead to the patient
seeking a legal remedy on the grounds of negligence. It has
been estimated that one or two life-threatening emergencies
will occur in the life - time practice of a general dental practitioner.
This experience may increase as the aging population
rises and more patients with underlying medical conditions
seek dental care.
Description
Keywords
Ethics, Dental ethics, Medical emergency, Dental practice
Citation
Naidoo, S. (2015). Handling medical emergencies. South African Dental Journal, 70(1): 30 - 31