2020 Volume 41 Issue 2 Pages 100-105
It is generally recognized that individuals with disabilities are at an increased risk of experiencing medical incidents；however, few reports have been published on this issue. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether the type of incident was associated with the type of disability and whether the frequency of incidents varies depending on the type of disability.
Medical incident reports by the dentist and the dental hygienist of our clinic from April 2008 to March 2019 were collected and analyzed. The disability type, patient age, severity level and incident details were identified from these reports.
The total number of incident reports was 120, of which 72 were associated with patients and 48 were not. The most frequently occurring type of medical incident was the falling of an extracted tooth or an appliance in the oral cavity (23 cases). Among physically disabled patients, the most frequently occurring type of medical incident was the falling of a tooth or a small appliance in the oral cavity (8 cases), followed by teeth trauma or appliance destruction due to unexpected biting (7 cases). Among those with development disorders, the most frequent type of medical incident was panic/self-harm/breaking of appliances (10 cases). Among intellectually disabled patients, the most frequent type of medical incident was the falling of a tooth or a small appliance in the oral cavity (9 cases), followed by damage to the soft tissue during a treatment procedure (6 cases). Among those with development disorders, medical incidents occurred during and after treatment, whereas in other patient groups, most cases occurred during treatment.
These results revealed a unique pattern of medical incidents for each type of disability. Therefore, it is necessary to understand that the type of disability affects medical safety considerations.
