Maintaining certain drugs in your
dental drug kit is now a standard of care. Having the wrong drugs will make you liable should a medical emergency occur under your care. Simply owning these medications implies an ability to use them. If you are NOT fully trained and fully familiar with the drugs in your dental emergency drug kit,
GET RID OF THEM! Get them out of your office. You are exposing your practice and yourself to a great deal of liability.
That black box of ampules that you purchased years ago, likely contains drugs NOT recommended by the ADA, for use by the general practitioner. It was designed for specialists, those trained and certified to use them. Drugs like
Talwin,
Tigan and Atropine are fatal if used incorrectly. These drugs are used to
treat a patient... your job is to
stabilize a patient suffering from a medical emergency in the dental office, long enough for EMS to arrive.
These are the ONLY Emergency Drugs for the dental office, as recommended by the ADA and
Dr Stanley Malamed in his international clinic series
'Medical Emergencies in the Dental Office'.
1. Epinephrine -
Anaphillaxis .30mg Adult (Over 66lbs) & .15mg Child (Under 66lbs) preferably in an auto-injector form (
Epi-pen)
2. Diphenhydramine -
Sever Edema 50mg (I suggest injections)
3. Albuterol Inhaler -
Bronchospasm
4. Nitroglycerin -
Angina
5. Insta-Glucose -
Hypoglycemia
6. Aspirin -
Cardiac Arrest 325mg (Half tablet for child)
7. Smelling Salts -Syncope
8. Oxygen -Nearly EVERY medical emergency
Again, anything more than these drugs, and you are now treating the patients medical emergency, not simply stabilizing them.