Dr. Sanjukta Mohanta Managing Medical Emergencies in the Dental Office Picture this: A healthy woman in her 30s undergoes a surgical extraction of tooth 16. As she rises from the chair, she collapses. What do you do? You’re probably thinking syncope and you’re confident in your response protocol. But what if you were the one on the floor, not the patient? That’s exactly what happened to me. I performed the extraction, gave post-op instructions, and as I stood to walk my patient to the front desk, I collapsed. My patient caught me. Fortunately, my team knew how to respond, thanks to annual training in Basic Life Support and handling common medical emergencies in the dental office. This article reviews the essentials of your medical emergency kit and when and how to use them. The infromation is derived from materials from the Royal Ontario College of Dental Surgeons, unless otherwise indicated.1 Medical Emergency Kit Everyone on your team needs to know the location of your medical emergency kit and how to use its contents. The kit should be well labeled and accessible in a central location. Ensure that your onboarding program for new staff includes showing the new team member where the kit is located along with the location of the emergency eye wash station and your first aid kit. Don’t forget to also do this with any temporary staff. It’s best practice to have a team member check the kit monthly to ensure that all items are still there and have not expired, and to review the use of the kit annually. For all provinces and territories, check with your regulatory body for the required contents of medical emergency kits in the region where you practice. For myself as a practitioner in Ontario, the required contents of a medical emergency kit are: 1) Oxygen 2) Salbutamol 3) Epinephrine 4) ASA 5) Diphenhyramine 6) Nitroglycerin And even though it’s not a requirement, it is recommended to also have glucose in your kit. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions and official policies of CDA. 30 | 2025 | Issue 6
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