Does Your Dentist Have an AED?

As surprising as it may seem, only 14 states require dentists to have an AED available in their office despite the fact that a variety of dental procedures require some form of sedatives or anesthetic.

Unfortunately for one three-year-old girl, Hawaii is not one of those fourteen states. Finley Boyle’s parents brought her in for a pediatric root canal earlier this month. After sedatives were administered, Finley went into cardiac arrest and was without oxygen for five minutes. She now remains in the ICU and has suffered irreparable brain damage. Finley’s parents are planning to sue the dentist who was involved.

Of course, having an AED ready is never a 100% guarantee that a cardiac arrest patient will survive unharmed, but these devices can increase survival rates by more than tenfold. If your state does not require dentists to have an AED, we highly recommend that you pass on this article that recently appeared on DentistryIQ.com to your family’s dentist. This article explores the benefits of having an in-office AED from a dentist’s point of view and also argues that dentists are more likely to face legal action over not having an AED than using one improperly.

If your state does require AEDs for dentists, don’t be shy to ask your dentist about how they maintain their AED. At AED.com, we also offer a full selection of AED Dental Packages that can include pulse oximeters for monitoring purposes.