Oral care of the patient with liver failure, pretransplant—a retrospective study

Oral care of the patient with liver  failure, pretransplant—a retrospective study
Jeffery L. Hicks, DDS*
Professor, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas.
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Special Care in DentistryEarly View, Article first published online: 19 MAY 2014

Liver failure patients seeking liver transplant in our teaching hospital undergo dental clearance by our Hospital Dentistry Department. A retrospective analysis of 500 patient dental charts was performed. All patients were evaluated previously by physicians and the medical diagnosis of liver failure for each patient was determined. Patients were examined and a treatment plan was formed consisting of the oral care required prior to dental clearance for liver transplant. An oral care treatment algorithm was constructed that, along with clinical parameters, guided the oral care in the pretransplant period. The oral care necessary to clear the patient for transplant was completed for each patient. Besides computing the average cost of oral care necessary to clear patients, analyses were performed to look for correlations among laboratory tests required before oral surgical procedures.