The role of automated external defibrillators in dental practice

Dental practices are seeing an increasing number of elderly and medically compromised patients, making it likely that staff will be called upon to respond to medical emergencies in the office, including cardiac arrest. Out-of-hospital cardiac arrests account for nearly half of all cardiovascular deaths in the United States. In adult cardiac arrest victims, the most frequent cause of sudden cardiac arrest is ventricular dysrhythmia, either ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. The survival rate for sufferers of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests is a dismal 1% to 5% to hospital discharge. A majority of people who survive to discharge sustain significant morbidity. Untreated ventricular fibrillation degenerates into asystole, which is often refractory to resuscitative efforts and represents a terminal event. The development and availability of the automated external defibrillator (AED) represents a promising advance in the pre-hospital early defibrillation of victims of sudden cardiac arrest in a variety of settings, often remote from hospitals or EMS personnel. Given the medically compromised segment of the population treated in many dental practices today, it is imperative that dental practitioners and allied health providers become trained in the recognition and prompt initiation of emergency care, including basic life support with early defibrillation. The AED is becoming more accessible, with increasingly widespread availability, training in its use and relative ease of operation, making the goal of increased survival one in which dental health professionals can play a part.