A questionnaire survey of 150 last term dental students from four dental schools was performed to delineate their current opinion with regard to the use of epinephrine-containing anesthetic solutions for dental procedures in cardiac patients. The students provided their opinion as "contraindicated" or "not contraindicated" regarding the use of these solutions in eight cardiac patients with either stable or unstable heart diseases including ischemic heart disease, arrhythmia, hypertension, and heart failure. We found an overall 77% rate of right answers among all students. Mistakes occurred more frequently when treating patients with ischemic heart disease (68% of right answers). Although vasoconstrictors may offer many advantages and are not contraindicated to the majority of cardiac patients, graduating dental students sometimes do not comply with current guidelines.
Epinephrine; Anesthetics; Cardiovascular diseases