This article continues our discussion on Dental Assistant work; Working with drug abusers and how you will be able to spot them during your dental assistant work.
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. Since Dental assistant work includes working closely with the patient, you should be able to spot some of these symptoms through casual conversation and observation.
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.
As a contientious assistant, part of your dental assistant work should be monitoring any suspicious behavior and reporting to the dentist.
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