Use of INR to assess degree of anticoagulation in patients who have dental procedures.

Dental professionals frequently treat patients who are receiving anticoagulation therapy. Proper treatment may require adjustment of the anticoagulant dose usually on the basis of the patient's current prothrombin time. This test has been shown to be less accurate than previously thought. The international normalized ratio is another method that attempts to standardize the degree of anticoagulation and to improve reproducibility of results. This system is slowly being implemented in laboratories in the United States. Practitioners who treat patients taking anticoagulants need to be aware of this system in order to make appropriate management decisions.