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Vital Signs Should Be Monitored During Dental Procedures

Vital Signs Should Be Monitored During Dental Procedures
by Richard Gawel

It seems like dentists already have lots to do during typical procedures. Yet the University of Buffalo School of Dental Medicine also requires its pre-doctoral students to assess the vital signs of all of their patients at every clinic appointment, including blood pressure, pulse rate, and pulse rhythm. These students are required to assess the capillary blood sugar (CBS) of all diabetic patients at every clinic appointment as well.

“The rationale was to train our students that these vital parameters are a normal component of the medical model for a patient workup, and our students should learn that medical model of patient assessment,” said Michael N. Hatton, DDS, MS, of the department of oral diagnostic sciences at the school. “We felt it would serve them well in their future professional lives to assess their patients in a medically templated way.”

Plus, this information provides baseline data in case of a medical emergency at the school, and personnel then could initiate resuscitative efforts in the best manner. With about 50,000 patient visits each year at the dental school, with many patients in their elder years, there are some high risks during dental care. And on a more practical level, these baseline figures would assist in a legal defense should the school face a lawsuit for a poor outcome.

“All students purchase blood pressure monitoring devices and stethoscopes. The school purchases glucometers and necessary accouterments for assessing CBS,” said Hatton. “All pre-doctoral students are taught blood pressure and blood sugar assessment techniques in their second year and assess all their patients, without exception, in their third and fourth years. They are competency tested on these techniques in their third and fourth years. Again, blood pressure for every patient, CBS for diabetic patients, every visit.”

But when the school surveyed its recent graduates to see if they maintained these practices in their professional lives, it found that only 77% of them generally assessed blood pressure, and only 23% assessed the CBS of diabetic patients—and most of these graduates didn’t follow the school’s strict policies in conducting these assessments, despite their training.

Read full article on DentistryToday.