Is screening in dental office an effective method of detecting undiagnosed hypertension?

Hypertension is an important worldwide public health challenge because of its high frequency and risk of cardiovascular and renal disease. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of undiagnosed hypertension as well as inadequately controlled hypertension among general populatio...

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Published inIndian journal of dental research : official publication of Indian Society for Dental Research Vol. 29; no. 4; p. 534
Main Authors Rao, Sadam Srinivas, Ramana Reddy, K V, Nath, Priyanka, Bindra, Sukhvinder, Jadaun, Gargi
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published India 01.07.2018
Subjects
Adult
Blood Pressure
Blood Pressure Determination
Dental Offices
Dentists
Early Diagnosis
Female
Humans
Hypertension - diagnosis
Hypertension - epidemiology
Hypertension - physiopathology
India - epidemiology
Male
Middle Aged
Professional Role
Tooth Extraction
Young Adult
India
screening
Dentist
hypertension
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Summary:Hypertension is an important worldwide public health challenge because of its high frequency and risk of cardiovascular and renal disease. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of undiagnosed hypertension as well as inadequately controlled hypertension among general population who sought tooth extraction at Army College of Dental Sciences, Secunderabad. Only 1200 patients in the age group of 20-60 years who sought tooth extraction were included in the study. Blood pressure (BP) was measured for three times in all patients. The readings were quantized into four categories which included normal, prehypertensive stage, and Stage 1 and Stage 2 of hypertension. The BP was assessed for the following variables - gender, habits of gutkha chewing, smoking and alcohol, regular exercise, age, and effect of local anesthesia. Nearly 24.4% of new cases of hypertension were diagnosed among all participants reported to the dental clinic. After giving local anesthesia, 16.71% increase in BP was observed in Stage 1 and 2.35% increase in Stage 2 hypertension. This study reveals that dentists play an important role in the early diagnosis of hypertension of many dental patients who are unaware of being hypertensive. This role should be emphasized in our specialty as a standard of care to prevent life-threatening complications.
ISSN:1998-3603