Medical Status and Medication Use in Patients Attending Shorish Private Dental Specialty in Sulaimani City

Background: Advances in health care and pharmacotherapeutics have led to a growing aging population living with complex medical conditions. These changes are apparent in patients presenting for dental treatment. Patients and methods: This study was carried out among patients (n=1200) who were visiting the department of oral medicine at shorish dental speciality in sulaimani city. The age range was between 10-79 years, 512 (45.2%) of participants were males and 620 (54.8%) were females. The data collected were age, sex, systemic diseases, medications, level of education and habit of smoking. Chi Square test was used to analyze the data. Result: The prevalence of medically compromised conditions in dental patients was 35.24%, females had a significantly higher prevalence of medically compromised conditions (44.19%) than males (24.41%) (p=0.000). The most prevalent encountered disease category was gastrointestinal disorder (14 %) followed by skeletal disorders (11.7%), cardiovascular disorders (9%), and endocrine disorders (5.12%). 14.39% of patients reported taking medications, females took medications more frequently than males (19.35% versus 8.39%) (p=0.000). The most prevalent drugs were antihypertensive medication (5.2%), followed by endocrinologic agents (3.6%) and pain medication (3%). Prevalance of disease is increased significantly with increasing age (p=0.000). Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of medically compromised conditions and a relatively high prevalence of patients taking medications among dental patients, as well as this study reflects the medical complexity of growing aging population; some of them has medically compromised conditions and use medications that are contraindicated for certain dental procedures therefore detailed history, careful examination and necessary medical consultation are mandatory before starting dental treatment.