The hypertensive dental patient.

The dental team plays an integral role in safeguarding the general health of patients. Dental health care workers should be able to recognize risk factors associated with hypertension and counsel patients in an effort to reduce those that are present. In addition, dental professionals should recognize how these risk factors and associated hypertension affect the provision of dental care. This article reviews recent findings and therapies for hypertension, evaluates historically accepted but unsupported anecdotal information on the dental management of hypertensive patients and proposes guidelines for the dental management of these patients.