Safety of dental extraction among consecutive patients on oral anticoagulant treatment managed using a specific dental management protocol.

We found no prospective studies on dental extraction in anticoagulated patients in the literature, even though most authors suggest that there is no need to change anticoagulant treatment and to utilize a local haemostatic measure after extraction. In the present study, we have verified the incidence of bleeding complications after dental extraction in a group of 250 consecutive anticoagulated patients. Two hundred and fifty non-anticoagulated subjects requiring dental extraction represented the control group. In all patients, anticoagulant treatment was not changed (International Normalized Ratio, 1.8-4) and local haemostatic measures (fibrin sponge, silk suture and a gauze saturated with tranexamic acid) were used. All procedures were performed in an outpatient clinic setting. We registered four bleeding complications in the group of anticoagulated patients and three in the control group. The difference of bleeding complications in the two groups was not statistically different (relative risk, 1.14; 95% confidence interval, 0.29-6.04; P = 0.7). None of the post-operative late bleeding required hospitalization and/or blood transfusions, and further local measures were sufficient to stop the bleeding. The protocol proposed in the present study makes dental extractions in anticoagulated patients possible on an outpatient basis with a cost reduction for the community and minor discomfort for the patients. Copyright 2003 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins