Dental Treatment and Psychological Issues

Providing dental care for medically compromised patients creates often highly charged psychological issues for both patients and care providers. This research explores some of these issues.

A major concern of both dental patients and dental care providers in relation to medically compromised patients is infection control. Dental care providers worry about the possibility that they may become infected from one of their patients. Patients who are not medically compromised fear that a dental care provider may transmit an infection to them from a prior medically compromised patient. Medically compromised patients are apprehensive about receiving the quality of care they required as a consequence of dental care provider concerns related to the medical conditions of the patients.

Hepatitis B and AIDS (acquired immunity deficiency syndrome) are two conditions that cause psychological stress for both dental care givers and patients. Other conditions of concern within this context are influenza, tuberculosis, and methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus. Infection control guidelines for dental care givers have been developed to both preclude the spread of infection and to allay fears of the spread of infection. These guidelines provide for the use of screening strategies, barrier techniques, instrument handling and sterilization, infectious was

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r undetectable levels of salivary viral inhibitors." Within such an environment, disease prevention becomes a paramount role for the dental care provider. Central in this effort is the prevention of the "transmission of blood-borne pathogens among dental health providers." Dental care providers must be familiar with "HIV-related diseases and complications because they can affect the success of dental treatment." Early neurologic AIDS involvement include "headaches, fever, subtle cognitive changes, abnormal reflexes, and ataxia." Cognitive deficits have been found to be present in approximately one-half of "asymptomatic HIV carriers." When a person becomes aware that he or she is afflicted with a disease such as AIDS, a variety of affective disorders may be manifested. Dental care providers, thus, must be alert for signs of "depression, anxiety, apathy, social withdrawal, agitation and (rarely) psychosis. Acute stress reactions and adjustment disorders" may complicate further the delivery of dental care to such patients. The cognitive behavioral signs for which the dental care giver must be alert to detect in patients include memory impairment, confusion, impaired spatial relations, concentration loss, mental slo
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Some common words found in the essay are:
AIDS Patient, Hepatitis AIDS, Compromised Patient, Infection Control, dental care, MDR-Tuberculosis AIDS, Dental Association, Introduction Providing, medically compromised, Journal American, compromised patients, medically compromised patients, care providers, dental care providers, Public Health, Patient Care, dedicated clinic, dental care provider, care provider, journal american, providing dental, american dental, dental care patients, dental association, american dental association,
Approximate Word count = 1235
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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