Dental management of patients receiving anticoagulant therapy

When patient are scheduled for minor oral surgery procedure, a question is raised, what should we do with the Oral Anti Coagulant (OAC) therapy? We face the dilemma between the risk of discontinuing the medication and patient developing thrombosis or the continuation of the medication and patient bleeding postoperatively. Serious embolic complications, including death, were three times more likely to occur in patients whose anticoagulant therapy was interrupted than were bleeding complications in patients whose anticoagulant therapy was continued. This article reviews the dental management of patients on oral anticoagulant therapy.