Medical emergencies in general dental practice in Great Britain - Part 2: drugs and equipment possessed by GDPs and used in the management of emergencies

Objective To ascertain the emergency drugs and equipment possessed by gener al denial practitioners (GDPs), the treatment provided and drugs used in ma nagement of the medical emergency events they reported. Design postal questionnaire survey of a random sample of GDPs in Great Brit ain. Subjects 1500 GDPs, 1000 in England & Wales and 500 in Scotland. Results There was a 74% response. An aspirator, an airway, oxygen, adrenali ne and an injectable steroid were possessed by about 90% of respondents; gl ucose, glyceryl trinitrate and a salbutamol inhaler by about 80%. Glucose w as used in management of nearly one in ten of the events reported, an inhal er, glyceryl trinitrate and oxygen were the next most commonly used. Cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was carried out in management of 1.1-1.4% of events not associated with general anaesthesia (GA) and in 4.7-16% of event s associated with GA, an average of once in 250 years of practice. Conclusions Most respondents possessed drugs and equipment necessary to man age a medical emergency. Half the drugs recommended by the 'Poswillo report ' to be available in every dental practice were not used in more than 8000 years of practice.