Swallowing and inhaling foreign objects during treatment

• Three hundred dentists in private and 300 dentists in public dentistry were asked to fill in a questionnaire on the incidents of patients swallowing and inhaling objects during treatment. The response rate was 81%. The incident information provided in the questionnaire was compared to reports sent to the Socialstyrelsen (National Board of Health and Welfare), according to lex Maria for the period 1992-2002.Approximately one quarter of the dentists questioned reported an experience of a patient swallowing or inhaling a foreign object during the last 10 years, with a similar incidence seen between private and public dentistry. About two thirds of the situations reported occurred in treatments related to prosthetic dentistry. However, a marked difference between dentists in private and public service was found in the number of reported incidents to the Socialstyrelsen. The questionnaire showed that dentists lacked information and training in the handling of situations of swallowing and aspiration. The study concluded that official reports on swallowing and aspiration of foreign objects during dental treatment do not reflect the true incidence of occasions and highlighted the need for education and training of dentists in how to handle such situations.

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