Uso de medicamentos e fatores relacionados a polifarmacia em pacientes de um serviço odontológico de urgência

Abstract

Introduction: Dentists must be aware of the medical conditions of their patients. These conditions are more common in the elderly, who often treat several conditions at the same time. The daily use of five or more drugs defines the term polypharmacy, a worrying factor due to increased risk of drug interactions. The relevance of polypharmacy in dental care is still largely unknown, with special mention to urgency and emergency services, given the need for very quick decisions. Objectives: To verify the profile of patients with dental emergencies regarding the use of medication, with a special focus on polypharmacy. Methods: Patients of a dental emergency service were recruited and interviewed to obtain information about their health, focusing on medications of continuous use. Subsequent telephone contact sought to resolve possible flaws during the interview. Statistical analysis evaluated factors possibly related to polypharmacy. Results: 47 patients were recruited for this research. Mostly were men, single, with high school education, with less than 40 years of age. Only two elders were recruited. Only 25.5% of the patients had some systemic disease, with diabetes being the most common systemic disease. There were 31.9% of patients using daily medication and only 8.5% in condition of polypharmacy, which was not significantly associated with any of the variables studied. Conclusions: Polypharmacy occurs in a relevant proportion of patients who request urgent and emergency dental care. This factor is not associated with any sociodemographic variable, so the dentist should always be concerned about collecting specific information about the ingestion of continuous-use medications, in order to assess potential adverse events during the performance of procedures or when prescribing medications due to dental need.