Public perception of dentists' ability to manage a medical emergency

• Published in: Journal of military and veterans' health. Vol. 27; no. 3; pp. 19 - 24
• Main Authors: M Vaughan, G Mahoney, A Sholapurkar, A Esterman
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Canberra Department of Defence 01.07.2019
• Subjects: Dental emergencies; Dentistry; Emergency medical personnel; Emergency medical services; Management; Practice; Public opinion; Training of
• ISSN: 1835-1271

The importance of dentists to be able to manage a medical emergency in dental practice has been an established concept for many years, with medical emergency training being incorporated into dental undergraduate training programs as far as back as 1981. However, for far longer than this, dentists have held a professional role in the staffing of military field hospitals, providing emergency care to injured and ill members of the armed forces. Despite awareness of the importance of such skills, Australian studies have shown dentists often lack appropriate proficiencies and equipment for the effective and efficient management of medical crises that may arise as a part of routine dentistry. The only identified literature review on medical emergencies within dentistry recently found the majority of both students and graduate dentists were unable to correctly perform life support procedures. This is a finding of concern when recent studies on the prevalence of medical emergencies in dentistry suggest that the incidence may be increasing, due to a myriad of factors.