Patient Assessment Considerations

Understanding a patient’s medical history is a critical element of the patient assessment when providing dental care to *any* patient, but, is especially important when a patient has been diagnosed with a chronic disease. The medical history should include vital signs and detailed discussions about the patient’s medications, medical condition, disease prognosis, comorbidities, patient’s perception of their oral status, physical limitations, and cognitive status (level of cooperation and mental state).^10,11 Tools are available to help oral health providers understand a patients unique needs such as how they like to communicate, what they liked and didn’t like during past dental visits, and what parts of a dental appointment may be hard for them. Oral Health Kansas developed My Dental Care Passport to help improve the dental team-patient relationship (Figure 1).¹² This tool provides a structured way to modify the dental office environment and appointment plan to meet an individual’s unique needs.¹²

Oral health providers should collaborate with the patient’s interprofessional health care team (family, caregivers, physician, nurses, occupational therapists, psychiatrists, and other health professionals) to gain a better understanding and confirm medical history findings. Communication with these individuals should be ongoing and documented throughout each phase of dental treatment.¹⁰ An interdisciplinary approach is critical for success. The following sections in this course provides specific information about Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, COPD, depression, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and stroke.

Figure 1. My Dental Care Passport.

Figure 1. My Dental Care Passport.

Adapted with permission from Oral Health Kansas, 2024.