Bogari D F
Department of Endodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Niger J Clin Pract. 2019 Feb;22(2):154-161. doi: 10.4103/njcp.njcp_493_18.
Dental office is an ideal screening place to identify undiagnosed/uncontrolled patients with hypertension. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge and behavior of dentists toward performing proper management of hypertensive patients in Saudi Arabia.
A close-ended e-questionnaire was created and sent to dentists of all levels (n = 710) in Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire included questions that assessed attitudes and behavior toward using a sphygmomanometer in dental clinics and assessed dentists' knowledge and behavior toward proper management of patients with hypertension.
About 62.4% of dentists had a sphygmomanometer in their clinic. Around 79.5% believe that working on patients with high blood pressure (BP) is associated with a risk of complications. However, only 13.3% of them measure the BP of all patients prior to treatment, and 63.3% would do so only if the patient noted a problem. About 54.3% of the respondents prefer using local anesthetics without epinephrine, and they would prefer to refer those patients to dental consultants for treatment. If a patient's BP was 180/100 mmHg, 78.1% of dentists would urgently refer that patient to his or her physician and would not perform a routine elective dental treatment.
There is a lack of knowledge and behavior toward proper management of patients with hypertension in our dental sociality. Broadening the breath of dentists' responsibilities to include screening and working together with physicians will help improve the community dental and general health of visiting patients and should be the goal of all dentists.
牙科诊所是识别未诊断/未控制高血压患者的理想筛查场所。本研究的目的是评估沙特阿拉伯牙医对高血压患者进行适当管理的知识和行为。
设计了一份封闭式电子问卷，并发送给沙特阿拉伯各级牙医（n = 710）。问卷包括评估在牙科诊所使用血压计的态度和行为的问题，以及评估牙医对高血压患者适当管理的知识和行为的问题。
约62.4%的牙医诊所配备了血压计。约79.5%的牙医认为治疗高血压患者存在并发症风险。然而，只有13.3%的牙医在治疗前测量所有患者的血压，63.3%的牙医仅在患者提出问题时才会测量。约54.3%的受访者更喜欢使用不含肾上腺素的局部麻醉剂，他们更愿意将这些患者转诊给牙科顾问进行治疗。如果患者血压为180/100 mmHg，78.1%的牙医会紧急将患者转诊给其医生，且不会进行常规择期牙科治疗。
我们的牙科领域在高血压患者的适当管理方面缺乏知识和相应行为。扩大牙医的职责范围，包括进行筛查并与医生合作，将有助于改善就诊患者的口腔健康和整体健康，这应该是所有牙医的目标。
