ABSTRACT
The medical and dental history is one of the crucial part of the routine dental practice. According to a survey performed in 2001 27% of the total Hungarian population was above the age of 60. The prognosis forecasts an increasing tendency in life expectancy and an even higher percentage of elderly population in the foreseeable future. Due to the increasing life expectancy the risk for complications of common dental treatments is also increasing. More care and attention should be paid to anticipate the occurrence of sudden complications during dental treatment that might also be a life threatening condition. In 1941 the American Dental Association drew up a questionnaire based on the risk groups established by the American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA). In 1993 K.J.M. de Jong et al. presented the results of their experience with the clinical application of these questionnaires. Based on their studies the Dental Working Group of the Health Committee of the European Council recommended the European application of this questionnaire. The major objective of our investigation was to evaluate how this questionnaire--developed by ASA--can assist the proper registration of the medical history in dental practice. Our survey also investigated how the risk groups distributed among the subjects. The data of 207 randomly selected individuals from the patient pool of the Dental Faculty of Semmelweis University were processed. The data of risk groups distribution is outlined here: ASAI:35,8%, ASAII:24%, ASAIII:17%, ASAIV:23,2%. In the age group 60+ the following distributions were obtained: ASAI:20,9%, ASAII:13,2%, ASAIII:24,2%, and ASAIV:41,7%. The results of this survey also confirmed that the occurrence of ASAIII and ASAIV risk scores increased in the age of 60+. Consequently the number of patients whose treatment plan should be modified due to health risk factors is also increasing. It can be stated that the ASA classification is appropriate to inform the dentist about the general physical status and health problems of the patients that may influence the dental treatment.
