Dental Assistants are used to working with patients who are
suffering from poor dental hygiene. Statistics show more than 10.5 million
people in the United States are affected by drug and alcohol use. Substance
abuse is easily recognizable by Dental Assistants. Many parents are left
completely dumbfounded when the Dental Assistant has to inform them that their
child appears to have a drug dependency and it is affecting their oral health.
Types of drug abuse Dental Assistants encounter include sedatives, barbiturates,
and narcotics.
The effects of drug use in relation to oral health care
include missing dental appointments, fear, anxiety, cravings for sweets, the
risk of infection from Hepatitis B and HIV, oral neglect, periodontal disease,
gingivitis, and painful gums. It is easy to see from this list how taking drugs
can lead to ongoing oral health issues. If the drug use continues tooth lose
and inflamed gum areas may increase.
Dental Assistants are often consulted when individuals call
the dental office or come in complaining of severe tooth pain. This can be a
ploy on the patient’s behalf to obtain drugs from the dental facility, either
in the office or in the form of a prescription. Dental Assistants need to watch
for such scenarios and listen to their gut reaction in such cases. Often, these
individuals will come in at closing time, get a prescription and an appointment
to return the next morning. They get the prescription filled, but never show up
for the appointment.
Since drug use is so common, Dental Assistants and other
dental staff should be properly trained in the areas of drug use, drug
interactions, and promoting drug treatment. If your employer does not offer
such training, it is important that you bring it to their attention. In the
mean time, it is your responsibility to train yourself by educating yourself in
these areas. You can do so with textbooks or online materials.
Dental Assistants can provide patients with education, early
intervention, and motivation to seek treatment for drug use. Often Dental
Assistants can help the patient find a treatment program to look into. It is
important for the Dental Assistant to treat the patient with respect, but fully
disclose the risks involved in continued drug use as well as they affects to
their dental health. This is where those valuable communication skills come in
to play.
Dental Assistants need to be very careful when providing
dental care to drug users. Since the types of drugs they use generally aren’t
disclosed, it is unknown what types of behaviors they will display. They may
become violent or experience a chemical reaction when treated with a local
anesthetic.
Treating patients who use drugs also raises the risk of
being exposed to communicable diseases. All precautions need to be taken to
protect yourself. Most dental facilities have policies and procedures in place
for dealing with individuals who come in for appointments under the influence
of drugs and other substances. However, for ongoing drug users, you might not
even know they have been using anything prior to treating them.
As a Dental Assistant, if you suspect a patient has been
using drugs, approach the situation confidentially and carefully. Your main
goal is to make sure other patients and staff members are not at risk of being
harmed. You have the right as a Dental Assistant to refuse treatment to anyone
for any reason. While most Dental Assistants don’t exercise this right often,
there is not reason to put yourself or others at risk.
Drug use can adversely affect an individual’s oral health.
Dental Assistants can offer then assistance with getting treatment for drug
use. They can also educate the patient on the effects of drug use. However,
this is a gray area where Dental Assistants need to procedure based on the
observations of the patient and the policies and procedures in place for the
dental facility they work for.
Dental Assistants working with Drug Users - Innakaghaitsa.com