Thursday, October 14, 2004

Case No 19

Extns in a heavy smoking diabetic

One of today's RA cases has been an irregular attender over a number of years.
He is a nice chap, but with poor dental health. A teacher aged about 55 and a heavy pipe smoker (an inhaler). He sounds "chesty". 2 years ago he was diagnosed diabetic, (controlled with oral mediaction). He Required a clearance of his remaining severely periodontally compromised upper teeth. (5 of them) and fitting a F/- Immediate denture.

Implants are not an option for him. He has had RA before but asked about IV sedation. I did explain the small risk with IVS due to his restricted lung capacity possibly resulting in a rapid drop in SaO2 as his breathing slows and becomes shallower. Also a possible, but difficult to quantify, risk of blood glucose levels being adversely affected. So he happily agreed that with the high level of oxygenation available with RA, that this would be his preferred option.The whole procedure was completed without any problems – Oh and the denture looks great too!




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