Why your dentist should have an AED

Do you know if your dental office is equipped to respond to Sudden Cardiac Arrest? Do you know why they should be prepared? SCA strikes 325,000 Americans annually and 95% of those are out-of-hospital incidences.

By equipping dental offices with an AED, dentists are better prepared to save the life of a patient, like Alvin Uzee. While getting fillings put in after a regular cleaning, Alvin suffered from Sudden Cardiac Arrest. Even though he was unresponsive and unable to breathe, the staff was prepared to save his life! They called 911, began CPR, and used their AED (even though they were not required by state law to have it). Camenzuli Dental can now spread the knowledge of being prepared and saving lives!

If dental offices are unprepared the outcome can be much different, like it was for Jacobi Hill and Sydney Calleger. Jacobi was cleared by his doctor to be sedated in order to have crowns put on his teeth.  However, during the procedure he suffered from Sudden Cardiac Arrest. The staff in Jacobi’s case was unable to save him without an AED. Sydney had a similar story, but was having her wisdom teeth pulled. During the procedure, her blood pressure shot up and her pulse dropped, leading to Sudden Cardiac Arrest. The staff in Sydney’s case were only able to start CPR and send her to the hospital. In both cases an AED was required by state but the dental offices did not have an AED on-site.

It’s important for your dental office to be prepared for a save because:

• Almost every state in the U.S. requires dental offices to have an AED onsite.
• Dentists often administer anesthesia, which can increase the likelihood of SCA.
• Lives are being lost due to a poorly designed or nonexistent AED program.

In order to protect yourself from SCA make sure that your dental office, as well as your other health providers, is prepared for an emergency.

If you still have questions about Sudden Cardiac Arrest, you can always leave us a comment, give us a call at 800-580-1375, or email us at customerservice@aedbrands.com