Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 10, 2026
Systematic Assessment of Mammalian Skull Specimens for Dental and Temporomandibular Joint Pathology
Published on: August 22, 2022
Death related to dental treatment: a systematic review
Nathan G Reuter1, Philip M Westgate2, Mark Ingram3
1Department of Oral Health Practice, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with death in relation to dental care.
Study Design:
A systematic review was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. PubMed, Dental and Oral Sciences Source, Web of Science, and the Cochrane database were searched, and the references of all retrieved articles were analyzed. Studies were included if death had occurred within 90 days of the dental appointment, and if the patient's age, procedure, and information regarding cause or time of death were provided. Factors associated with death were assessed by multivariate analyses and logistic regression.
Results:
Fifty-six publications, including retrospective studies and case reports/series that reported 148 fatalities, were analyzed. On average, 2.6 deaths were reported per year. The leading cause of deaths was anesthesia/sedation/medication-related complications (n = 70). Other causes were cardiovascular events (n = 31), infection (n = 19), airway-respiratory complications (n = 18), bleeding (n = 5), and others (n = 5). Age (P < .0001), disease severity (P < .02), disease stability (P < .006), dental provider characteristics (P < .05), level of consciousness/sedation (P < .02), and drug effects (P < .03) had significant associations with death.
Conclusions:
Reports of death were rare; however, specific risk factors associated with dentistry were identified. A better understanding of these factors is important for the development of guidelines that help prevent fatalities in dentistry.
