Dentistry & Oral Care

Biography

Biography: N.Kannan natarajan

Abstract

Present day advances in medical sciences and technology has resulted in substantial increase in the volume of dental patients with systemic illnesses. The term Medically Compromised refers to dental patients with impaired health status like pregnancy, or patients with systemic diseases like ischemic heart disease, congenital heart disease, liver disease, renal disease, asthma, patients with immunodeficiency and patients with altered immune status. Absence or inadequacy of precautions needed to be taken while carrying out routine dental treatment in these patients may result in worsening their medical status or even result in a fatality. Care needs to be taken while prescribing medications for these patients in the form of altered dosage or altering the medications themselves. Medico-legal litigations are reportedly on the rise in all the countries across the globe due to increased patient activism and awareness of their rights and sensationalization of such cases by the media. Worsening of the patient’s medical status or fatality occurring as a result of inadequacy of precautions can prove to be nightmarish to the dentist’s practice, life and reputation. Many of these medical conditions can be identified by detailed case history recording and thorough clinical examination. There may be alterations in the oral cavity as a result of some of these systemic diseases or due to medications/treatment received for these diseases which may present as taste alterations, salivary alterations, oral ulcerations, petechiae, ecchymosis, pigmentations, candidiasis, necrosis and gingival overgrowth. This presentation will be highlighting the maxillofacial & general clinical features useful for suspecting presence of the underlying systemic conditions and precautions needed to be taken during the dental treatment of these patients.