1. INTRODUCTION
Fortunately, medical emergencies in the
dental office are a rare occurrence.
Unfortunately, this rarity prevents us from becoming comfortable with
management of problems, and worse still, may lead to complacency. In light of their uncommon occurrence, it is
useful to revisit the subject, sometimes from a different perspective. The perspective taken for today's discussion
is a relatively broad one, allowing for a
"from first principles " approach to the prevention of
preparation for, recognition of and action involved in the management of
medical emergencies.
2. DEFINITION
A medical emergency is a stress induced,
relatively sudden, acute, uncontrolled failure of physiologic adaptation
capability (or decompensation in the face of stress ).
A. Stress
induced: This implies that there is usually a more or
less recognizable cause or identifiable stress that is driving the system
toward failure. This could be the
presence of an allergen, anxiety, drugs or foreign object in the airway that
stresses the system maximally and beyond in such a manner that the system is no
longer able to cope.
MEDICAL EMERGENCIES IN THE DENTAL PRACTICE
1. INTRODUCTION Fortunately, medical emergencies in the dental office are a rare occurrence. Unfortunately, this rarity prevents us ...








