Management of dental patients taking anticoagulant drugs = Trattamento del paziente odontoiatrico in terapia con anticoagulanti

INTRODUCTION. Increasing prevalence of heart and circulatory diseases causes a growing number of patients to be treated with oral anticoagulants. As a consequence, the dentist is often involved in the treatment of patients with a coagulation time longer than normal. THERAPEUTIC PROTOCOLS. It is evident that an increased coagulation time may be a problem in treatment plans involving minor surgery such as dental extractions or periodontal surgery. Over the time several solutions have been proposed for this problem. Some Authors suggested to suspend or decrease the intake of these drugs a few days before surgery. Others proposed not to stop oral anticoagulant therapy to avoid the risk of severe complications such as thrombosis. CLINICAL GUIDELINES. This literature review allows to suggest some clinical recommendations in the management and treatment of these patients in order to reduce the risk of complications that may be life-threatening.