Managing the medically compromised geriatric patient.

Demographic trends indicate that dentists will be treating more dentate geriatric patients, many of whom will be medically compromised. This article emphasizes the effect advancing age may have on the identification and management of common medical problems. In particular, cardiovascular disease, (ischemic heart disease, hypertension, prevention of infective endocarditis), diabetes, and arthritis (prosthetic joints) were reviewed. The prevalence of all these diseases increases with age and many geriatric patients have undiagnosed cardiac disease or diabetes. Knowledge of the pathophysiology of these common systemic diseases will be increasingly important to dentists in the future.