National Dental Advisory Committee - Emergency Drugs & Equipment in Primary Dental Care

Medical emergencies

All dental practitioners and dental care professionals may have to deal with medical emergencies. Fortunately, these are rare but can be life threatening and include:

1. Airway obstruction (choking and aspiration)

2. Anaphylaxis

3. Angina

4. Asthma

5. Hypoglycaemia

6. Myocardial infarction

7. Seizures

8. Vasovagal syncope (faint)

The Prescribing in Dental Practice section of the BNF^[4] provides guidelines on the management of common medical emergencies which may arise in dental practice. A guide to the initial ABCDE approach which should be followed when assessing and treating patients with a medical emergency can be found in Appendix 5.