silly question-why no vitals?

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deleted6669

why don't dentists check folks vital signs before a procedure?
they take a great hx but wouldn't it be good to know someone was significantly hypertensive, bradycardic, tachycardic, hypoxic or febrile before starting a potentially painful or uncomfortable cleaning or procedure potentially lasting 45 min to an hr?
just curious.....
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Pulse and BP get taken at my office prior to starting procedures in addition to a quick review of the patients medical Hx. Simple stuff and you'd be suprised how often I'm referring a patient to their MD/DO for further evaluations of items that get picked up.
 
I dont see it quite as much in private practices i've been at, although I have definitely seen it done..but at school we have to do it for every single patient. BP, pulse, breathing, etc. It's def. important.
 
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DrJeff said:
Pulse and BP get taken at my office prior to starting procedures in addition to a quick review of the patients medical Hx. Simple stuff and you'd be suprised how often I'm referring a patient to their MD/DO for further evaluations of items that get picked up.
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glad to here it. I saw my dentist recently and he takes a great hx and does a thorough oral ca screening, etc but no vitals. maybe he does them on pts with a positive review of systems on their health questionaire or above a certain age, don't know. glad to hear that it is the standard taught to dental students...it would be embarassing for someone to stroke out with a bp of 280/130 during a dental cleaning.....
 
emedpa said:
glad to here it. I saw my dentist recently and he takes a great hx and does a thorough oral ca screening, etc but no vitals. maybe he does them on pts with a positive review of systems on their health questionaire or above a certain age, don't know. glad to hear that it is the standard taught to dental students...it would be embarassing for someone to stroke out with a bp of 280/130 during a dental cleaning.....
Click to expand...

Standard protocol in my office, where when a patient is seated, either an assistant, or a hygenist will take/record basic vitals(strap on the automatic BP cuff and hit "start"), and anything out of the ordinary gets brought to the attention of me or my partner. Takes all of a minute to do 99% of the time, and that 1% of the time is when my partner and I get to talk about MD/DO referrals for a litlle chit-chat about the finding(s)
 
We're taught at my school to do it on every patient too (BP, pulse, and respiratory rate). I don't usually get my pulse or respiratory rate taken at offices, but I've gotten my BP taken most of the time. I did find during my observations as a pre-dent that it is more likely to happen at offices run by younger dentists or dentists who have, by the looks of the facilities they work in, kept up to date with the times and technology.
 
We are required to take vitals here also, however I have never had mine taken in a dental office.
-C
 
Yes tht is the standard of care, BP, and pulse. Unfortunately, this was only instituted about 10 years ago, so many of the older dentists do not do it. Also pretty much every patient that comes to a dental clinic is tachycardiac, as almost every patient is nervous no matter what.
 
scandalouslj said:
Also pretty much every patient that comes to a dental clinic is tachycardiac, as almost every patient is nervous no matter what.
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My personal experience doesn't support this at all. Lots of patients are nervous, yes, but I've encountered very few tachycardias among dental patients at my hospital.
 
At my school all student dentists are required to use a defibrillator on every patient, regardless of race, gender, or creed.
 
Same at Temple. We do it before every patient. Well, since I don't see patients yet I technically don't do it, but you get it.

Recently dentistry has started to turn more towards the recognition of things that mey need further inspection by a DO/MD. A lot of school are turning the standard of care up a notch so these things are recognized earlier so they can be treated better or caught and controlled before they become serious. Like Dr. Jeff was saying.
 
NileBDS said:
Yeah, I didn't catch the drift going on there ... I was thinking he meant as practice, in case of an emergency.
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yes, in case of emergency we are required to defibrillate all patients prior to beginning each appointment.
 
The dental clinic sent told a patient to come see us in the ER urgently d/t a BP of 150/90.

Anti-troll Note-- We probably send the dentists ridiculous stuff that we could treat ourselves. It's a fair trade :)
 
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