Importance, Advantages, and Objectives of Taking and Recording Patient’s Medical History in Dentistry

Introduction: Taking and recording of medical – pharmacological histories ofpatients before dental procedures by dentists are extremely important and should beconsidered as a duty.This study aims to determine the importance, benefits, and aimsof assessing the medical history in dental patients.Methods: This study was a narrative review which reviewed the studies publishedbetween 1980 and 2015 by using an electronic, academic and scientific resourceapproach with the following key words, including: Medical history, Dentistry, Patient,Aims and Benefits. At the end, the collected data were simply content analyzed.Results: In this study, 12 important and practical aims were identified in patients’history, as follows: 1) Achieving a correct diagnosis, 2) Communicating with thepatient, 3) Informing the patient, 4) Planning treatment, 5) Determining appropriateprognosis, 6) Managing the patient, 7) Keeping data, 8) Attaining communicationbetween doctor and dentist, 9) Discovering preventive factors, 10) Preparing legaldocumentation, 11) Developing clinical studies, and 12) Providing educationalprograms.Conclusion: getting to know the patients means having more control on the patientand the disease and is the basis of making the right decisions and designing preventionand definite treatments, which have important benefits for both the physician and thepatient.

Keywords:

Dentistry , Patient , Medical History , Aims , Benefits