[Dental care for patients being treated with oral anticoagulants. Prevention of hemorrhagic complications].

The oral management of patients receiving oral anticoagulants is controversial, especially concerning oral surgical procedures. The clinician has to balance the risk of reducing or stopping the medication with that of triggering bleeding complications. For each individual patient and for each dental intervention, two important factors should be evaluated and balanced: the risk for bleeding complications represented by the dental intervention and the medical risk for the patient in case of interruption of the anticoagulant therapy. Practical instructions for the different types of dental interventions and medical risk categories are proposed.