The aim of this research was to verify the number of occurrences of medical emergencies during the odontological practice; the adequacy of equipments and drugs; the professional knowledge level and training of such professionals in dealing with medical emergencies, both in terms of public health care as well as private practice. Postal questionnaires were sent to 6.000 dentists who were member registered up to April 2004 at the Regional Dental Council of the State of Santa Catarina. There were 506 (8.43%) responses. The analysis of the results revealed that the clinicians who replied were aware on the importance of the issue, and declared themselves not prepared to solve a medical emergency. The most frequent emergencies reported were syncope, tachycardia, hypertension, reaction to local anesthetic and hypoglycemia. The public health service has a larger supply of equipments and drugs for medical emergencies. Official letters were also sent to seven dentistry schools in the state, which answered that there are no specific credits about the subject of medical emergency. Such issue is usually briefly referred in others credits, and in the initial semesters of the course.
Medical emergency; Equipments; Drugs; Public health care; Private clinics
