a retrospective study of medically compromised patients referred to the department of oral and maxillofacial surgery, school of dentistry of tehran university of medical sciences, iran

Introduction: due to the increased prevalence of medically compromised patients who require dental treatments, it is a crucial task for dentists and dental specialists to prepare themselves for emergent professional situations. this study was performed to determine the prevalence of different medical problems among a population of patients admitted to a dental educational center. materials and methods: in this prospective study, the prevalence of medical problems in patients (n = 968) referred to the department of oral and maxillofacial surgery of the school of dentistry of tehran university of medical sciences, iran, was investigated for 3 consecutive months. result: among all patients, 397 were medically compromised patients. the mean age of the patients was 48 ± 0.15 and 51.4% were men. the results showed that 41% of the patients had at least one medical problem. the two most common diseases were hypertension (13.9%) and diabetes mellitus (6.3%), respectively. the majority of patients with medical problems were referred from private dental offices. the majority of patients (97%) had well-controlled systemic diseases that could be treated in a private office. conclusion: this investigation showed the necessity of teaching the management of medically compromised patients in dental school curriculum and in continuous dental education programs.