The following are questions and answers that you, as a dentist, need to be thinking about. Heart murmurs diagnosed during childhood or pregnancy and then disappear as well as certain other functional murmurs, do not require antibiotics before dental treatment. Also, new guidelines reduce the number of dental procedures antibiotics are required for in patients who do need them for certain heart problems. Uncontrolled hypertension places the patient at increased risk for another heart attack or a stroke, possibly in your office, during treatment. Uncontrolled hypertension can also cause excessive bleeding during dental procedures making the safe management of those procedures more difficult.
Diabetics are also more susceptible to gum disease.
The patient may need to be given an electric toothbrush. A dry mouth can make a patient more susceptible to cavities and gum disease. You may need to suggest that she chew sugarless gum to increase the flow of saliva or prescribe artificial saliva. A patient who does not take her medications may not have her ailments under proper control. Also, if she is not following her medical doctor's advise, there is a high likelihood that she will not follow your advise either.