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.